Pilipinas shell delays share sale anew

MANILA, Philippines - Oil giant Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (Shell) will further delay its share sale as the transaction is far from encouraging at this time. Shell has attempted to come up with a concrete plan for its market debut by third quarter but "no updates [have been made yet] on the results of the refiner upgrade review, Philippine country chairman Edgar Chua said. "Yes [we are putting the plans on hold] as this is linked to the refinery plans," Chua said. The company is reviewing its local refinery business after Caltex Philippines Inc. decided to close down its 49-year old refinery in Tabango, Batangas and put up a P750-million finished product import terminal. The Oil Deregulation Law of 1998 requires existing oil players to list at least 10 percent of their outstanding shares by February 2001 to broaden ownership of oil refiners. Petron Corp. listed its shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Sept. 17, 1994, a transaction considered as one of the country’s biggest initial public offerings. Caltex (Phils.), Inc., which was owned by United States-based oil giants Texaco Inc. and Chevron USA, Inc. and Shell, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Group of Companies, sought a deferral in August 2000 due to prevailing negative market condition. In August 2008, Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes ordered Shell to submit its IPO plan as the 10-year period since the passage of the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998 is too long for it to offer its shares. The law orders any person or entity in the oil refinery business to make a public offering through the stock exchange of at least 10 percent of its common stock within a period of three years from its effectivity. -GMANews.TV