Petron Bataan refinery to shut down by mid-January next year

Last October this year, it was reported that Petron is considering the shut down of its Bataan refinery due to its tax troubles with the government. Mr. Ramon Ang was even planning on having supposed talks with the government. Now, it has finally become official, the oil company will then proceed in shutting down its Bataan refinery by mid-January.

Sadly, this is the last operating oil refinery in the country. As per Petron, its Limay, Bataan facility would be on economic plant shutdown which should begin by the second half of January next year. During that phase, the company shall conduct maintenance activities on key process units.

In order to give way to some maintenance activities on major process units, the Bataan refinery was shut down last May, while operations then resumed by October. This was also done in order to mitigate the impact of low fuel demand and poor refining margins. 

On the other hand, employees of the soon to be shut down refinery are seeking support from the local government due to this temporary closure. In fact, 50 Petron refinery employees have been formally seeking help from Limay, Bataan’s Mayor Nelson David. Specifically, for him to save the refinery which has been operational for the past 60 years. It was also mentioned that the employees supported a proposal that involves the reclassification of the refinery as part of the Freeport Area of Bataan.

As per the oil company, the said closure will affect 1,000 directly employed workers, as well as 2,500 employees which work on other third-party service providers. This then serves as a testament to Mr. Ramon Ang’s statement back in October, therefore saying that Petron’s refinery was also in danger of having to shut down permanently and that this might happen very soon. By that, let's hope that it won't get any further than this temporary closure.