Seaoil slates IPO bid in Q1 2008

Seaoil Philippines Inc., one of the country’s most aggressive small oil companies, said it will proceed with its planned initial public offering (IPO) in the first quarter of 2008, a ranking company official said.

“Seaoil plans to sell between 20 percent to 30 percent of its capital stock to finance the company’s nationwide expansion,” company president Francis Glenn Yu said.

Yu said the company is reiterating its firm commitment to undertake the IPO exercise, contrary to rumors it will not push through with the public offer.

Formed in 1997, Seaoil is the first independent fuel company to put up a gasoline retail station, following the deregulation of the country’s downstream oil industry.

It has since aggressively expanded, becoming the largest fuel firm outside the Big 3 of Petron, Shell and Chevron (Caltex) with 154 outlets nationwide.

With over 50 new stations for roll-out in the next 12 months and a waiting list for franchising, the company is targeting to reach over 500 stations nationwide by 2011.

Since deregulation started, 62 firms have thus far entered the retail oil industry and invested heavily in new retail outlets and storage facilities. Based on Department of Energy statistics, local gasoline stations of new players increased from 112 stations in1999 to 602 in 2006 with Seaoil accounting for almost 106 stations in 2006.

Seaoil’s main products are diesel, gasoline, kerosene, auto-LPG and its pioneering biofuels blend. It also provides a wide range of lubricants for the automotive, construction, marine, transportation, power and manufacturing industries.

Consistent with its thrust of innovation, the company pioneered the promotion of biofuels and other alternative fuels in the country, being the first to introduce the use of ethanol as a gasoline blend.

In 2005, two years before the implementation of the Biofuels Act, Seaoil already offered the first 10-percent ethanol blended gasoline or E10, now available in most of its nationwide retail station network along with the similarly mandated one percent biodiesel blend.