Philippines' Petron suspends 180,000-bpd Bataan refinery as pandemic bites

MANILA, May 26 (Reuters) - Petron Corp PCOR.PS , the
Philippines' largest oil refiner and retailer, said on Tuesday
it has temporarily shut down its 180,000-barrel-per-day Bataan
refinery on the main island of Luzon, as the coronavirus
lockdown pummelled global oil demand.
"Since May 5, Petron's Bataan Refinery has been on a
scheduled turnaround to give way to maintenance activities on
major process units," the company said in a statement after
posting its quarterly results.
The plant shutdown will also mitigate the impact of lean
fuel demand and poor refining margins, Petron said, without
giving details on when the refinery would resume operations.
Petron, a unit of conglomerate San Miguel Corp SMC.PS ,
provides nearly 30% of the Southeast Asian country's petroleum
requirements, with 30 terminals and more than 2,400 stations
nationwide.
"Demand recovery will depend upon the lifting of quarantine
measures and ultimately, finding a vaccine to fully restore
mobility," Petron President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon
Ang said in a statement.
The oil refiner said it has enough fuel inventory to supply
domestic market requirements that will be replenished through
importation of finished products.
Earlier this month, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte
had temporarily increased tariffs on imported crude oil and
refined petroleum products to fund measures aimed at mitigating
the economic impact of the outbreak. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp SHLPH.PS has also shut down
its 110,000-barrel-per-day Tabangao refinery in the Philippines,
for one month starting the middle of this month. Petron suffered a net loss of 4.9 billion pesos ($97
million) in the first quarter, compared with a net income of 1.3
billion pesos in a year-ago period, as fuel prices collapsed due
to demand contraction in both local and international markets.
= 50.5600 Philippine pesos)