Eastern Petroleum opens for business in Subic

Independent player Eastern Petroleum Corp. finally opened its much contested retail gas station in Subic this week despite delays and continuing opposition from oil giant Petron Corp.

“We have made simultaneous opening in Subic with Jollibee and Shakey’s, with no less than the new Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chair Roberto Garcia. The 4,600-square-meter mega-station is equipped with pumps capable of servicing 16 vehicles at the same time,” said Eastern Petroleum chairman Fernando Martinez.

Martinez told the Inquirer that while Petron had repeatedly tried to block Eastern Petroleum from opening a station near it, the oil giant failed to get a temporary restraining order and an injunction that would have barred the independent oil player from proceeding with the opening.

Also, he said Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras himself had expressed his support for Eastern when they accompanied President Aquino during his recent five-day state visit to China.

Martinez quoted Almendras as saying that Petron’s move to block the opening of a gas station near it was “contrary to the Oil Deregulation Law and the Penal Code.”

Petron has contested the construction of the Eastern Petroleum gas station near its own outlet in Subic, arguing that it had earlier signed with SBMA a contract for an 800-meter radius exclusivity.

Petron SVP and CFO Emmanuel E. Eraña earlier said that the contract should be upheld by the SBMA, as “one simply cannot change the rules of the game in midstream to suit one’s interests.”

On June 14, Petron filed a complaint with the Regional Trial Court Branch 72 of Subic, but failed to secure an injunction to halt the construction.

Our stand in the Department of Energy is promote competition. The more gas stations, the better,” Almendras said separately in a mobile text message to the Inquirer.