Pryce Gas to invest P500 M this year

Pryce Gas Inc. will be investing a minimum of P500 million this year for the expansion of two of its six existing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) import terminals in southern Philippines.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Pryce Corp., the company has a total of six operating terminals with a combined capacity of 6,300 metric tons. These are located in Leyte (1,000 mt), Iloilo (1,000 mt), Negros (900 mt), Misamis Oriental (1,200 mt), Davao del Sur (1,200 mt), and Zamboanga (1,000 mt).

The Davao and Zamboanga terminals will be expanded to carry an additional capacity of 1,000 mt each. The project is estimated to cost P250 million per terminal.

According to special assistant to the chairman Gerry F. Quisumbing, the company has started to tap new sources of imported LPG like Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and the Mauritius.

"We are one of the few LPG resellers who are independent of the local refiners," said Quisumbing. The company was dependent on Shell Gas during the past four years.

The six terminals are part of the 16 LPG terminals that will be established by Pryce Gas under an $18-million loan with the international Finance Corp. (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank.

Pryce Gas controls nearly one fourth of the LPG market in southern Philippines which is worth $250,000 yearly. The leaders are Shell Gas, Petronas and Liquigaz.