Philippines--Despite having a new investor that is willing to infuse more cash into the company, Petron Corp. may have to step on the brakes when it comes to new investments due to high steel prices.

Petron chairman and chief executive Nicasio Alcantara said the oil firm still needed $1.5 billion to bankroll the second phase of its Refinery Master Plan, which involves the construction of a second Petro Fluidized Catalytic Cracker (PetroFCC) unit that should come on stream by 2014.

Steel prices, which had doubled since the company made its investment estimates, were putting pressure on Petron to decelerate its investment program.

"What will likely happen is that we'll be pursuing some projects ahead of others. We have to break it up and pursue the projects that will give the highest yields ahead of the others," he said in a briefing.

In an earlier interview, Ashmore Group representative and Petron board member Craig Webster said Ashmore was willing to pour more cash into the oil firm to enable it to provide better value to shareholders.

"What we want from our investments is for our business to grow and for our shareholders to benefit. If additional capital is needed to do that, then we'll invest more capital," he said, without elaborating on how much Ashmore was willing to shell out and what projects it planned to focus on.

Petron this year began producing the petrochemical feedstock propylene at its Bataan refinery with the start of operations of its Propylene Recovery Unit (PRU), following the commissioning of its PetroFCC in mid-February.

From the PetroFCC, the propylene stream is purified in the PRU to produce petrochemical-grade propylene.

The PetroFCC will not only produce 140,000 metric tons of the petrochemical propylene, but also allow Petron to convert more black products--such as industrial fuel oil--into higher-value white products such as liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, diesel and kerosene.