Seaoil to double service stations

MANILA, Philippines - Independent oil player Seaoil Philippines Inc. is putting up 81 gas stations this year, double the number of service stations established in 2009.

Seaoil chief financial officer Mark Yu said the company ended 2009 with 170 service stations nationwide, the bulk of which are owned and operated by franchises. The company aims to expand its branch network to 500 by 2011.

Yu said while the company remains interested in going public, this plan would have to wait until market conditions stabilize.

“There’s still uncertainty over the market. So, we’ll see. But we’re still interested,” said Yu.

Seaoil earlier planned to list about 20 to 30 percent of its shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange to raise between P2.5 billion and   P3 billion. SB Capital and Multinational Investment Bank were tapped as joint issue managers. Proceeds from the initial public offering were supposed to be used for the expansion of the company’s   retail network.

The company was among the pioneering independent oil firms which entered the downstream oil industry when it was deregulated in 1998.

Since then, the company has already established a steady market share and is now considered as a major revenue earner among independent retail oil entrants.

Apart from the retail business, Seaoil is also eyeing to make a foray into ethanol production. It said it would put up an ethanol plant with a capacity of 100,000 liters a day.