PTT shelling out P1 B for add’l service stations

MANILA, Philippines - PTT Philippines Corp., the local unit of Thailand’s largest petroleum company, is shelling out around P1 billion in the next five years as it ramps up the expansion of its service station network to 300.

The expansion will help the company grow its market share from the current 2.4 percent, PTT Philippines president and CEO Sukanya Seryodin said during a company forum in Quezon City.

“We are planning to increase our retail service stations to 300 in the next five years. We will be spending a billion pesos for the expansion,” she said.

“We are targeting a 15 to 20 percent growth per year for the expansion of our retail service station,” she added.

In the first half of 2015, Seryodin said revenues grew only 10 percent, lower compared with the previous year.

This is due to the continued slide in oil prices in the world market. However, the tame growth in revenues was tempered by the 30 percent jump in sales volume, she said.

“When the price is going down, consumers can bring their personal cars to fuel gas more. We see consumption will continue as price goes down,” Seryodin noted.

Currently, PTT Philippines has 84 stations: 74 service stations in Luzon and 10 in the Visayas.

The company will also start penetrating the Mindanao region in its expansion plan, PTT Philippines communications manager Vittaya Viboonterawud said in the same event.

It has started building on the supply and logistics needs to be able to put up service stations in the region, he said.

“We really see the opportunity in Mindanao... We will use the same model that we do. We will consider the traffic, the need of the community,” Viboonterawud said.

While there is no specific number of stations targeted for Mindanao, Seryodin said they aim to have one built by early 2016.

PTT Philippines considers the country as one of the priority markets in Southeast Asia for expansion, in line with the Asean Economic Integration (AEC) this year.

To help widen its retail network, the oil firm  is introducing mini-stations to further speed up its expansion across the country.

The mini-station will have an area of 800 to 1,000 square meters, smaller compared with the 1,200 to 1,800 square meter land area of a regular station.