Oil firm Pryce Corp. is setting aside around P6 billion to build three air separation facilities across the country in a bid to become the leading domestic industrial gas company.
In a regulatory filing yesterday, the company said its board of directors authorized the construction of new plants in Pangasinan, Bacolod and Davao, with completion targeted within three years.
With construction set to begin early next year, each air separation plant is estimated to cost around P2 billion.
‘This expansion directly supports (Pryce’s) goal of becoming the largest industrial gas company in the Philippines, a milestone the company aims to achieve within the same three-year timeframe,’ it said.
Pryce, through Pryce Gases Inc., currently operates an air separation plant in Mindanao, which separates atmospheric air into its main components to produce liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon.
The facility enables the company to manufacture and distribute industrial gases.
In the first nine months, Pryce saw its consolidated net income grow by 35 percent year-on-year to P2.99 billion, driven by higher sales volume of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and industrial gas.
Total revenues, on the other hand, improved to P16.97 billion from P15.01 billion.
Of the total revenues, LPG and industrial gases contributed the bulk or P15.49 billion, followed by real estate and memorial park operations (P279 million) and pharmaceutical products (P45 million).