MANILA, Philippines—Independent oil player Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. said it would further expand the retail network of its lubricant business by tapping “open areas” in Southern and Northern Luzon, Bicol, Western Visayas and Mindanao.
“We are looking at forging distributorship agreement with third- party distributors in Batangas, Cavite, Quezon, Bicol, Isabela, Cagayan, Ilocos, Nueva Vizcaya, Panay, Negros and Western Mindanao, where we feel there is a growing market for our products,” said Unioil lubricants division manager Ben Dolosa.
“By having a network of distributorship, we can popularize our product line, enabling us to fully compete with other companies,” Dolosa added.
He said Unioil targets to initially forge agreements with 10 new distributors before the end of the year, in these “open areas.”
Unioil, one of the country’s leading independent oil players, carries a wide range of automotive and industrial lubricants that cater to retailers and resellers, as well as industrial and commercial clients. It is also the exclusive distributor of products made by Idemitsu, Japan’s biggest lubricant manufacturer.
Last year, Unioil inked a contract with Silver Tire Traders Inc.—a local lube distributor based in General Santos City—as the company’s distributor of automotive lubricants in North and South Cotabato area.
The lubricants distribution contracts with Silver Tire would boost Unioil’s revenue by P24 million a year.
Dolosa said the company would also go into franchising, which would require an initial investment of P500,000 to P1 million. The amount would enable the franchisee to sell 10,000 liters of lubes. Depending on the location of the franchise, the program is also expected to have a return of investment in as fast as one and a half year to two years.
The planned expansion of the company’s lubricants business is on top of its ongoing, P90-million service station expansion that would see the construction of six service stations within the year, on top of the two that were already finished early this year.
Unioil has about 40 retail and service stations, which are mostly located in Luzon.
