Eastern Petroleum sets P100-M capex budget

Eastern Petroleum Corp. (EPC), one of the country’s new oil players, will spend some P70 million to P100 million for its capital expenditures next year, EPC president Fernando Martinez said yesterday.

In an interview during the EPC’s 5th anniversary celebration, Martinez said the fund would be used to build 30 new service stations in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Martinez said the P100 million would be raised through a combination of internally-generated funds and infusion of an additional equity from the stockholders.

Most of the new stations, he said, would be located in the areas near the metropolis such as in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Other stations would be situated in Marikina and Pasig.

"We are trying to enhance our presence in Metro Manila. We will be constructing some of the stations within the metropolis," he said.

At present, the EPC has 30 service stations all over the country. By the end of 2003, he said they expect the number to increase to 100.

"We will be expanding aggressively in the next two years. This year, we only built 15 stations. We will double that in 2001," he said.

The expansion program, he said, would enable the company to almost double its revenues next year to P700 million from a projected gross sales of only P450 million this year.

He said the expected P450 million in 2001 could be considered as a "flat growth" since they have incurred the same level of revenues in 1999.

In 2003, he said they are expecting that their revenues will reach the P1-billion mark which has been delayed for two years now.

"We originally programmed to reach the P1-billion mark this year. But we have to adjust our targets due to some incidents that happened this year that made us decide to delay our expansion projects," he said.

EPC, so far, ranks as one of the top 10 oil firms in the country. Aside from the Big 3 (Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Caltex Philippines Inc., the other oil firms in the top 10 list include: Subic Bay Distribution Inc., Total Petroleum Corp. Unioil, Flying V, Seaoil and Jetti Distribution Supply Inc., one of the fastest growing oil companies in the country.