MOSCOW (MRC) -- Philippine refiner Petron swung into a net loss in the first half of the year due to fuel demand destruction brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, said the company.
Petron Corp. incurred a consolidated net loss of P14.2 billion in the first half of 2020, reversing the P2.6 billion net income it posted in the same period a year ago.
In a disclosure on Tuesday, the listed oil company blamed the net loss on the “combined slump in demand, poor refining margins and collapse in prices” and reported that its consolidated revenues fell by 40 percent to P152.4 billion from P254.8 billion.
Consolidated sales volume from its Philippine and Malaysian operations decreased by 19 percent to 41.9 million barrels from 51.9 million amid a sharp decline in fuel demand because of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Local sales volume declined by 28 percent because of reduced consumption, particularly in aviation and retail, with the implementation of stricter quarantine measures in the country to contain the coronavirus’ spread.
“The worldwide lockdowns resulted in an unprecedented demand destruction, which led to a sustained drop in oil prices, reaching record low levels in 26 years,” Petron said.
Dubai crude plunged by almost 70 percent or USD44 per barrel from Januarya to April, when oil prices fell to as low as USD13 barrel in daily trading.
As MRC informed earlier, Russia's output of chemical products rose in June 2020 by 2.6% year on year. However, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 4.9% in the first six months of 2020. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, polymers in primary form accounted for the greatest increase in the output in January-June. Production of benzene was 106,000 tonnes in June 2020, compared to 110,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 721,000 tonnes over the stated period, up by 3.9% year on year.
MRC