Shell to put up P80-M bitumen plant in Mindanao

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (Shell) is intensifying its effort to keep its leadership in the asphalts market.

Shell business manager Jimmy Bongga said the company will invest some P80 million to put up a bitumen facility in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental in Mindanao.

A bitumen is one kind of residue from oil that is being used as a component for making asphalts.

Bongga said the new sea-fed facility will include a 4,000-metric ton (MT) storage tank and a 150-MT day with a throughput capacity of 72,000 MT per annum.

The bitumen facility, he said, will offer hot bulk bitumen to asphalt batching plant customers.

He said this will generate savings for asphalt batching plants because of the resulting minimal reheating requirement.

"The facility will be a great asset for the road building program of the National Government and the development of Mindanao in particular," Bongga said.

According to Bongga, the new bitumen facility will be operational in the first half of 2003.

Shell is a member of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies which is currently operating in more than 135 countries around the world.

In the Philippines, Royal Dutch started its operation in 1914 as distributor of kerosene products.

Over the years, Shell has established in the Philippines a group of companies engaged in different businesses, namely exploration and production (Shell Philippines Exploration B.V.), oil products (Shell Gas Eastern Inc.), chemicals (Shell Chemical Philippines Inc.) and renewables (Shell Renewables Philippines Corp.).

Shell has two oil refineries (Tabangao and Pililla), a lube oil blending plant, more than 20 installations and depots, and six liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants. It has about 900 retail service stations nationwide.