Seaoil puts up Mindanao terminal

Seaoil Philippines Inc. has opened a new oil terminal—its biggest so far—in Sta. Cruz City, Davao del Sur as part of efforts to make it more competitive and grow its market share in the “underserved” market of Mindanao.

The P500-million bulk terminal has a 41-million liter capacity. It also has a berth that can receive vessels of up to 50,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT).

It can also handle domestic size tankers for local distribution and sales.

“We saw the need for the construction of a new liquid bulk storage terminal to serve the growing demand for fuel products in the Southern Mindanao area,” Seaoil COO Stephen Yu said.

Seaoil now operates 10 depots and terminals across the country,

representing 160 million liters of oil storage capacity.

Of the 10, four facilities are in Luzon (two in Batangas, one each in Manila and Bicol) and four are in the Visayas (one in Iloilo and Negros island and two in Cebu). In Mindanao, there is one terminal in Dipolog and another in Sta. Cruz.

The terminal in Sta. Cruz, which has been operating since November last year and will be formally opened this Saturday, was funded by last year’s capital expenditures of  about P1 billion.

Seaoil said it was ramping up its investment to about P2.98 billion in 2014 to add more oil depots, retail stations, and a “superstation” to its existing network.

“The Seaoil Sta. Cruz bulk terminal should be able to serve around 200 stations that will employ about 2,000 people directly and upwards of that number indirectly. It shall also serve other commercial industries in the surrounding areas and provinces,” Yu said.

Having the terminal means Seaoil can avoid shipping imported fuel from Manila to Mindanao. This means the company can get better margins and more room for keeping prices stable.