Seaoil earmarks P1B for new facilities in 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Seaoil Petroleum Inc. is setting aside P1 billion to put up 60 new stations and additional oil storage facilities next year. The company opened its 200th gasoline station in Cebu over the weekend.

Seaoil president Glenn Yu said 15 of the proposed 60 stations would be located in Mindanao, another 15 in the Visayas region, and the rest in Luzon.

“There are still more islands than fuel stations in the country and there are still many areas where there are high prices we can take opportunity from,” Yu said.

Seaoil, the country’s biggest independent oil company, presently operates four stations in Cebu, with the first put up in late 2009.

At that time, pump prices in the island province were higher by P3 to P5 per liter than in Metro Manila. But due to competition, fuel prices are practically similar to the price range at the capital region.

On top of the company’s new station, Seaoil will also open around nine more pump facilities in Cebu.

The company targets to put up 400 stations by 2014. Around 90 percent of Seaoil’s stations are franchised to investors.

Yu said the company would still bank on franchising stations to help roll out their expansion activities. A single station is estimated to cost around P10 million.

Under the petroleum firm’s franchise scheme, interested investors could pay as low as P500,000 to operate under a 10-year deal with the company, which would shoulder the cost of location and construction of the facility. A franchisee also has the option to nominate a site or choose among pre-selected ones.

Successful franchisers, Yu said, could easily get back their initial investment in less than four years.

The latest addition, or the 200th station to the company’s retail network, is in Plaridel, Mandaue City.

The Seaoil chief executive said that they want to be known as “the Jollibee of oil companies” in a market dominated by multinational firms.

Formed in 1997, Seaoil is the first independent fuel company, other than the so called Big Three of Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron (formerly Caltex) Philippines Inc. to put up a fuel station after government opened the downstream petroleum industry to market forces in 1998.