Petron is Y2K Ready

December 21, 1999 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 3243-99 PETRON IS Y2K-READY Petron Corporation, the country's biggest oil refining and marketing company, is Y2K-ready. LibLex Its comprehensive Y2K program has been in place since early this year and when the new millennium rolls, its customers are assured of a steady supply of petroleum products through normal operations. Petron's Y2K Disclosure Statement was submitted to the Presidential Commission on Y2K Compliance on August 15, 1999 where the-company announced 100% compliance of all of its mission-critical systems, as well as the putting up in place of a comprehensive Y2K Contingency Plan to cover crude acquisition, refinery processes, finished product distribution, marketing and external factors like power failure and telecommunications breakdown. The state of Petron's Y2K readiness was verified last November 23, 1999 by a task force led by the Philippine Institute of Petroleum, the Department of Energy and a private sector representative, Dr. Lydia Echauz, dean of the De La Salle Graduate School of Business, with representatives from all oil companies as members. In addition, the Y2K Commission also led a committee that conducted simulation tests on Petron's Bataan Refinery last November 17, 1999. Checked for compliance by the Y2K Commission, the National Security Council and the Philippine Computer Society, were the Refinery's Distributed Control System, the Continuous Catalytic Cracker Unit and the Sulfur Recovery Unit. The tests confirmed the Y2K Compliance of these key refinery units. Despite its high-level of Y2K-preparedness, Petron has a Contingency Plan in place since August this year. As part of the company's Y2K Contingency Plan, a Petron Command Center has been established at the Petron MegaPlaza Head Office to monitor activities related to Y2K during the millennium rollover, issue directives, and link the PIP-DOE-National Security Council Nerve Centers. A general systems check will be conducted on January 1, 2000 company-wide. All results will be transmitted to the Petron MegaPlaza starting at 9:00 am, January 1, 2000. Additionally, Petron service stations' gas pumps have been assessed to be free of any date-sensitive embedded-systems. The company has made it a policy, however, that all those service stations with electronic-digital pumps be installed with emergency power generating sets to ensure the flow of fuels even during power failure. cdlex Petron is well prepared to address any possible disruptions the Y2K or millennium bug could cause. However, it continues to strengthen its contingency plans in order to assure its customers of the same efficient service and the same quality products it delivers and is known for. cdlex