PTT claims 2% of Philippine oil market

CHONBURI, Thailand—From its oil terminal and blending plant near the Gulf of Thailand, PTT Public Company Limited regularly ships out gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil and lubricants to the Philippines via the Subic Bay Freeport in Central Luzon region.

“It takes five days to deliver to Subic,” said Parin Visesketgarn, an engineer at the Sri Racha Oil Terminal, referring to the United States military naval base that the Philippine government turned into an economic zone after 1992.

In Subic, PTT Philippines Corp. taps a distribution network, delivering supplies mainly through more than 100 kilometers of underground pipelines that lead to the Clark Freeport, a former US Air Force base, in Pampanga province.

PTT runs 73 service stations in Luzon and the Visayas.

These, so far, are what the subsidiary of Thailand’s national petroleum and petrochemical company has spread out since the Philippine government invited it to do business when it ushered in an era of a deregulated oil industry in 1996.

PTT was established in 1978 on the heels of an oil crisis, using the natural gas it discovered in the Gulf of Thailand in 1973.

To date, the Thai government directly and indirectly holds 67 percent of the state enterprise, said Thitiroj Rergsumran, senior area manager for the firm’s international marketing department.

In 2013, PTT sold in the Philippines 384 million liters of diesel, 267 million liters of jet fuel, 148 million liters of gasoline, 26 million liters of fuel oil and a million liters of lubricants.

These amounts represented 2 percent of the market dominated by Petron, Shell and Caltex, said Vittaya Viboonterawud, PTT Philippines public relations manager.

Despite the small share, Viboonterawud said PTT would continue its investment in the Philippines at a “modest pace.”

From 2015 to 2020, the firm is set to increase the number of its service stations to 140 across Luzon and the Visayas, he said.

“We want to become a top brand in the Philippines,” he said, noting that the company will focus on the quality of products.

Rergsumran described the Philippines as significant to PTT, owing to its growing economy and big market.

The Philippines is also on the radar of PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), which sells products for packaging, personal care, pharmaceutical, automotive, construction, electronic, textile and agriculture sectors in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Sasikul Kangwalklai, PTTGC senior performance analyst, said a study was ongoing on the trade of petrochemical products with Philippine companies.

PTT buys 50 percent of crude oil from the Middle East, maximizing this as well as natural gas, palm oil and coal mining to produce diverse products.

In a report to shareholders in 2013, PTT Chair Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara and president Pailin Chuchottaworn discussed the company’s green initiatives through its products.

PTT ranked 81 in Fortune 100 in 2013 and is listed on Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.

PTT, Bahiddha-nukara and Chuchottaworn said, has increased trading volumes of crude oil, fuel oil and petrochemical product and deployed more suitable and efficient risk management tools.

“We also expanded investment opportunity in both domestic and overseas to exceed the competitiveness of PTT Group,” they added, citing the founding of Global Power Synergy Co. Ltd, which is now the main electricity business company of PTT Group.