Eight Caltex mega-stations planned for Cebu expansion

Chevron Philippines, the company that operates Caltex chain of gas stations in the country, is currently evaluating eight possible sites for its network expansion in Cebu province.

Roy Jimenez, Chevron Philippines district manager for retail in Visayas Mindanao, announced that of the eight potential sites, three will be opened within this year here.

Two Mega-stations will be opened in Mactan Island, and one in Danao City, he said.

The other six potential sites in the province, is still being finalized, Jimenez said.

Caltex mega-station concept carries the full-line of Caltex petroleum products, Xpress lube and service bays and the Caltex Starmart convenience store, plus a company partner which operates restaurant, coffee shop, or drug store.

The company recently opened its first mega-station or modern-station in Mandaue City, tapping fast food chain McDonald's as its brand partner.

In other parts of the country, especially in Luzon, some Caltex gas stations have already adopted the dual-brand offering with McDonalds, Jollibee, Starbucks Coffee Shop, and Seattle's Best coffee, Mercury Drug as their business partners.

The dual-brand concept of Caltex was first adopted in the Philippines, in 1996 starting with its Novaliches, Manila mega-station, with McDonald's as its first partner.

This time, the company is going to activate this concept in the Visayas, specifically in Cebu, Jimenez said.

There are a total of 120 Caltex gas stations in the Visayas. Sixty-percent of which are managed by the company, the rest is operated by partner dealers.

According to Jimenez of the total 865 Caltex gas stations all over the country 20 of which have already adopted the dual-branding concept.

In its move to keep its strong presence in the Philippines, Chevron has recently changed its name from Caltex Philippines to Chevron Philippines, while retaining the Caltex brand in all its service stations and retail outlets.

Chevron's name change is in line with the change in their parent company's name from ChevronTexaco Corporation to Chevron Corporation. Several Chevron companies in the Philippines has also changed names like the Caltex (Asia) Limited is now Chevron Holdings Inc., and the ChevronTexaco Malampaya LLC is now Chevron Malampaya LLC.

"We believe that our new company names will strengthen our vision-to be global energy company most admired for our people, partnership and performance. We look forward to sharing this continued success with the Filipino people," said Mark Quebral, the company's manager for policy, government & public affairs.

Chevron is among the largest investors in the Philippines, generating employment for almost 20,000 people. It holds about 22 percent market share of the petroleum retail market.