PETRON Corp. is willing to sell its refinery assets back to the government to help it address the inflationary impact of escalating oil prices on the economy.

But the government, through Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, said in a text message when asked for comment that there has so far been no discussion on the offer.

In a letter to the Department of Energy, a copy of which was forwarded to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, Petron Chairman and Chief Executive Ramon Ang informed Almendras his company was open to the idea of the government reinvesting in Petron.

“In particular, we are ready to offer our refinery assets [the Petron Bataan Refiner Complex in Limay, Bataan] for possible reacquisition by the government if this will assist in attaining the government’s objectives at this time,” Ang said in his letter.

The executive cited the “public clamor” for the government to reinvest in Petron so that it can attain an “effective participation” in the industry.

The government owned all of Petron until 1994, when it sold 40 percent of it to Saudi Aramco and 20 percent in a public offering. San Miguel Corp., which now owns 68 percent of Petron, can also sell a stake to the government, Ang said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday.

Analysts said Petron could now afford to offer the Bataan refinery, given that its parent San Miguel Corp. would gain another refiner in Malaysia through the acquisition of a 65-percent stake in Esso Malaysia.

The acquisition would include Esso Malaysia’s refinery in Port Dickinson, which has a processing capacity of 88,000 barrels per day, but only averaged about half that amount in 2010, earlier reports showed.  

“They might not need both refinery assets and one could be more efficient than the other. Petron could easily import from Malaysia,” Joey Roxas, president of stock-brokerage firm Eagle Equities Inc., said.

The issue now would be how the refinery asset will be valued and whether the government would be willing to pay for it.  

“If the government will [re-acquire] the refinery, we are not sure where it will supply the oil,” Maria Arlysa Narciso, equities analyst with AB Capital Securities Inc., said in a separate interview.

Petron is ready to discuss the appointment of a third party to determine the structure and valuation of a sale, Ang said in the letter.

According to Ang, having control of the largest petroleum refining assets in the country would put the government in a better position to develop and devise comprehensive and long-term programs and solutions.

Through this acquisition, Ang said, the government will enjoy “significant influence” on the supply and prices of petroleum products in the country.

The continuing rise in the prices of petroleum products has led to the ongoing discussion in Congress to revisit the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Law, or Republic Act 8479. A  number of bills have also been proposed in both chambers of Congress to implement measures for the government to stabilize prices and secure continuous supply of petroleum products in the country—developments that Ang mentioned in his letter.

Ang said Petron fully supports the thrust of the government to counter the adverse effect of high oil prices on the economy. But he also said Petron believes that going back to the regulated regime was “not the solution.”

He said the recent increases in oil prices were not dictated by oil companies but by worldwide market forces.

“We believe deregulation has been most beneficial to the economy as well as to the downstream oil industry and should be continued to be implemented by the government,” Ang said.

(With Miguel Camus)