Thai unit to pursue PH expansion

MANILA, Philippines–PTT Philippines Corp., a subsidiary of Thailand’s largest oil firm, is bent on increasing its investments and presence in the country, despite the difficulties encountered by industry players in the past, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras recently told reporters that PTT Philippines responded favorably to the DOE’s request to expand its presence in the country.

Almendras said PTT was even “exploring what other things they can do here, so we’ve encouraged them.”

“We’ve agreed on further meetings as we want to discuss these (options). PTT can add more stations here among other things. We’ll see,” Almendras said.

As of end-2010, PTT has over 40 stations in Luzon and Visayas.

The company earlier said it wanted to further expand its retail network this year by adding 10 to 15 new stations, each worth P20 million in investments, for a total of about P200 million to P300 million.

In 2009, PTT Public Co. Ltd., parent firm of PTT Philippines, announced plans to expand its retail station network in the Philippines to 200 over the next eight to 10 years.

The company hoped to strengthen its presence in Luzon and Visayas.

“We’re trying to encourage competition because we’re trying to diversify the market. We’re trying to invite as many players as we can to the country. It’s not just PTT. The more players, the better for us,” the energy chief explained.

The move to encourage PTT was part of the government’s effort to further diversify and widen the Philippine downstream oil industry landscape.

Since the deregulation of the downstream oil industry in 1998, there are now over 240 oil companies operating in the country, data from the DOE showed.