Homegrown oil company Phoenix Petroleum Philippines has continued to look for more expansion areas in Mindanao and the rest of the country, a top company official said yesterday.Lawyer Allan Raymond T. Zorilla, company senior vice president of external affairs, business development and security, told TIMES that the company will assess areas that have been submitted by some would-be dealers.
“We will look at the viability of the areas as we always consider location as a primary factor (in the expansion),” Zorilla said as he pointed out that the company, which was established in the city in 2003, is still scouting for more areas especially in Mindanao.
Asked on the capital expenditure for a gasoline station, he said the amount of money to be spent usually varies as the company usually considers expansion projects dependent the result of the feasibility study conducted for a specific area.
Other than location, he said that “moving traffic,” or the volume of vehicles that is found in a certain area is also among those factors considered for expansion, although he could not provide any actual number for the year as the company has been a publicly-listed entity since 2007.
On average, he said, the company opens about 50 new stations every year and it reported last month that it 2018 with 600 stations.
But expansion, he added, is not limited to setting up new stations but the company also buys “white stations,” or those gasoline stations carrying no specific brands, or those that are sold by its competitors.
Last month, the company reported that its net income for 2018 was at P2.77 billion, or 99% higher than the previous year.
Aside from regular petroleum products, the company has also ventured into selling liquefied petroleum gas which registered a 23% increase in volume on a year-on-year basis.
