Phoenix Petroleum to expand in Luzon

MANILA, Philippines - Davao-based Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. will roll out its expansion into the Luzon area with the establishment of about 100 stations in the next two to three years, a ranking company executive said.

Phoenix chief operating officer Romeo de Guzman said the expansion of its network will be supported by the upcoming inauguration of its newly-constructed 65-hectare oil warehouse inside the Batangas Union Industrial Park (BUIP) in Calaca, Batangas on July 23.

De Guzman said about 30 of the targeted 100 stations in Luzon will be put up in the Metro Manila area and other strategic locations in nearby provinces.

“The Calaca oil terminal has a capacity of 50 million liters,” De Guzman said.

He said the first batch of fuel that would be housed in the Calaca depot is expected to arrive within the month, amounting to five million liters.

He said construction cost on an average-sized gas station could amount to as much as P8 million, entailing total investment of up to P800 million for 100 outlets.

The Phoenix executive said they are set to construct 11 new stations in Luzon by the end of this year.

“Our focus is to grow not only in Mindanao but also in Luzon,” the company official said.

Asked what would be their edge against their competitors, specially the Big Three oil companies, he said: “Our response time and decision-making definitely would be an edge.”

He added they are also planning to put up five additional stations in the Visayas and another 10 new stations in Mindanao.

“We are putting 26 additional stations before the end of the year,” De Guzman said.

Phoenix currently has 103 stations nationwide, majority of which are in Mindanao, while its network share is about 23 percent.

For the first three months this year, Phoenix registered revenues of P1.02 billion, up 28.5 percent from P795 million in the same period in 2008.

Phoenix was the first petroleum company to list at the Philippine Stock Exchange since the passage of the Downstream Oil Deregulation Law in 1998.