Petron Malaysia announces planned expansion at Port Dickson refinery
Petron Malaysia plans to invest USD 3.5 billion to expand the capacity of its Port Dickson refinery in Malaysia by 90,000 barrels per day (bpd), which will boost its capacity to 178,000 bpd.
The complex is equipped with a crude distillation unit, a naphtha hydrotreating unit, two semi-regeneration reformer units, and a kerosene hydrotreating unit.
Petron Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Ang said that “If we will have to give a ‘go’ to that expansion, that will be completed in 2020,” and will generate an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of USD 600 million a year.
In 2011, Petron marked its foray into Malaysia with the incorporation of its holding company, Petron Oil & Gas International Sdn Bhd, and the acquisition of ExxonMobil downstream subsidiaries in 2012.
Petron subsidiaries in Malaysia comprise of Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd (formerly known as Esso Malaysia Berhad), a publicly listed company listed on Bursa Malaysia; Petron Fuel International Sdn Bhd (formerly known as ExxonMobil Malaysia Sdn Bhd); and Petron Oil (M) Sdn Bhd (formerly known as ExxonMobil Borneo Sdn Bhd).
Ang said that its Malaysian oil business has provided the Philippine company with attractive financial returns. “When the asset was acquired, it had EBITDA of just USD 20 million,” Ang said, “but for 2017, we will likely end at USD 270 million.”
Petron Corp. competes with state-owned Petronas and Royal Dutch Shell in Malaysia’s fuel retail market and is currently number three, 550 service stations.
The Malaysian investment will run parallel to the expansion of Petron’s oil refinery upgrade project in Limay, Bataan, Philippines. The company announced last December that it will boost the oil refinery’s capacity by 90,000 bpd at a cost of USD 1.5 billion. The Limay oil refinery currently has a capacity of 180,000 bpd. Petron said it plans to boost capacity in the Limay oil refinery to 360,000 bpd, with an additional investment of USD 3.5 billion.
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