The country’s largest oil industry refiner Petron Corporation notched an estimated P4.2 billion net income last year, reversing a dismal loss of P3.9 billion in 2008.

The oil firm’s financial performance as presented in an investors’ briefing for its preferred shares issuance is considerably better-than-expected, given the ‘tough events’ that the entire industry had to hurdle across periods in 2009.

Petron chief financial officer Emmanuel Erana also laid down the company’s investment plans in the next five years – entailing capital outlay of P1.0 billion each year for retail network expansion from 2010 to 2014.

“We will build 1,000 more stations in the next five years,” Erana noted. The company’s current retail portfolio hovered at more than 1,400 stations.

The other key component of the oil firm’s project blueprint would be its planned foray into a power project, mainly to serve its electricity requirements and the rest will be for export to the power grid.

Petron president Eric O. Recto justified the company’s need for an embedded generation facility, stressing that given its refining facility’s power intensive nature, it cannot rely much on supply from the grid for sufficient and reliable supply.

Beyond oil, Petron will also allot fresh investments for allied services in its retail networks, including the construction of additional 153 Treats convenience stores. Such will entail additional investment of P440 million.

Erana noted that Petron’s prospect for the future is intended “to keep our market leadership in the industry.”

The oil firm is similarly targeting to continuously upgrade the low-yielding product component of its refining facility, all falling within the intent of improving efficiency.

As far as retail expansions are concerned, Petron has been carving its niche in putting up micro-retail stations; slightly diverting from the “super stations” that it had heavily invested on in the past.