In the Philippines, Petron, under the country's major conglomerate San Miguel, is considering closing its 180,000 barrels per day refinery in Bataan. The reason is likely to be a slump in refining margins and shrinking oil products demand due to COVID-19.

Petron seems to be requesting the government to revise its import tax and domestic tax system so that domestic oil refiners can fully compete with petroleum product importers. It emphasizes that the current tax system provides little merit in the sale of refined products. The final decision will be taken on whether to close the refinery after seeing the government's response.

Chevron, formerly known as Caltex, closed its refinery in Batangas in the Philippines in 2003. In August 2020, Shell announced that it would close its refinery in Batangas.Petron has the largest share of oil product sales in the Philippines followed by Shell. The two companies account for about 45% of market share. Imports are expected to offset the decline in oil products due to the closure of refineries.