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SEAOIL Philippines plans to focus the expansion of
its retail refueling business in the Visayas and Mindanao to take
advantage of potential growth in these markets.
Francis Glenn Yu, Seaoil
president, said the company is branching out in these underserved
markets in line with its plan to join the ranks of the major
petroleum players by 2011.
He said the company is exploring
expansion opportunities in Cebu, Davao, Zamboanga, the Panay Island
and other strategic areas to better serve its retail network
expansion in these areas.
“Most of the development will
be experienced in the Visayas and Mindanao region where prospects
for growth are still vast,” he said.
Formed in 1997, Filipino-owned
Seaoil is the first independent fuel company to put up a gasoline
retail station, following the deregulation of the country’s
downstream oil industry.
The company has 112 retail
stations amounting to 3 percent of the total industry, with 125 more
set for roll-out within the year. In four years’ time, the company
is targeting a 500-station network, making it the third biggest
refilling business in the country next to Petron Corp. and Pilipinas
Shell Petroleum Philippines.
To finance this expansion drive,
Seaoil is eyeing to sell to the public for the first time from 20
percent to 30 percent of its capital stock within the first quarter
of the year.
Based on its market study,
Seasoil said the downstream oil market remains underserved.
To address this need, the company
is also banking on its low-cost franchising programs to boost its
retail presence nationwide.
Yu said the company’s
affordable franchising packages have drawn a growing number of
overseas Filipino workers looking to start a business.
Under the company’s franchising
scheme, a dealer can choose to develop a station from the ground up
under a dealer-owned and dealer-operated option, or to franchise an
existing station with proven revenue streams under the company-owned
and dealer-operated option.
Franchise fees range from
P250,000 for Mindanao stations to P350,000 for Visayas and Metro
Manila stations.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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