Alcantaras to get Petron?
April 16th, 2008 by Site Administrator
THE REPORT about the government’s predisposition to unload its strategic 40-percent share in Petron Corp. is giving credence to the renewed buzz that the Alcantara family is out to seek control of the oil firm. For the Alcantaras, the prospect of adding Petron to their growing conglomerate is a strategic fit in this challenging regime of business environment made difficult by the subprime mess that has engulfed notable names in the world of finance, such as Bear Stearns.
This foray into the energy industry by the Alcantara group makes sense since most conglomerates are now making a beeline for this business field due to the prevailing view that the Petron stock is a defensive stock because it is considered a utility stock. The name of the game now is diversification, and the Alcantara family’s plan to buy into Petron affords it a window of opportunity and a toehold in the oil industry.
It must be noted that Saudi Aramco and the Alcantaras were earlier in talks regarding the desire of the foreign firm to let go of its 40-percent share in Petron. Unfortunately the talks fizzled out, although the emergence later on of a fund manager, Ashmore Holdings, as a prospective buyer of Saudi Aramco’s equity position gave rise to renewed speculation that the entry of Ashmore into the Petron equation, thanks to the supposed rmediation efforts of former trade chief Roberto Ongpin, may just be a “holding strategy” for the moment.
Thus, the pronouncement early this week that the government is also set to sell its own 40-percent holdings allows the Alcantaras a chance of getting a controlling stake in the company, which is a strategic move aimed not just at diversifying its interests but at riding a new business wave that is energy. The race to gain a toehold in the energy industry has become an intense battleground in business. In fact, even beer-and-food giant San Miguel Corp. is willing to forgo its supposed core business to be in the so-called sunshine industries like energy.
Why, even the oil-exploration industry is suddenly buzzing with considerable interest from notable names in the Philippine business scene. The surge in the price of oil to above $100 per barrel has given rise to intense lobbying for prized oil-and-gas acreage in offshore Palawan and other prospects. Even Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes is said to have noticed an avalanche of interest from business groups wanting to prospect for oil in the country. And all because the surge in the price of oil has made the risk in oil prospecting a worthy gamble.
An oil-well drilling means investing $8 million, not to mention the seismic survey and the 3D sounding of the humps that may contain oil or gas. A discovery of trapped oil that could contain, say, 30 million barrels, would fetch $3 billion, as against the projected expenditures of $750 million, tops, for the establishment of an oil platform and the oil-flowing exercise, as well as getting an oil tanker to store the find until it is sold in the market.