MAJOR alternative oil player Seaoil Philippines Inc. is hoping to increase to 500 its retail service stations in the country over the next three years.

Currently, it has 120 company-owned and dealer-operated service stations and another 25 to 30 stations will be added before the end of the year.

At the sidelines of the recent Chartered Financial Analysts Society of the Philippines anniversary celebration, Seaoil vice president Mark L. Yu told reporters the retail expansion will be funded by the P1 billion to P1.5 billion proceeds they are hoping to generate from a planned public offering in 2008.

“Right now, we are still evaluating the possibility of tapping the capital markets. Next year [there is] a possibility [for the IPO],” he said.

Its initial plan is to offer 20 percent of its shares of stock to the public, consisting of both primary and secondary shares. Seaoil is currently 100-percent owned by the Yu family.

“Retail is our main source of revenues and our strength is in the rollout of service stations. Actually, our goal is to be known as the Jollibee of the oil industry,” Yu said.

Seaoil is among the independent oil firms that entered the downstream oil industry when it was deregulated in 1998.

Since then, the company has already established a steady market share and is now considered a major revenue earner among the new retail oil entrants.

Seaoil likewise expects to generate revenues of P1.1 billion in the first year of operations of the ethanol plant it is planning to put up. 

It would take them at least 18 months to complete the construction of the ethanol plant, which would have a capacity of 100,000 liters a day. The company is funding the project through a combination of cash and financing.

Seaoil has been in the forefront of what could be considered a “green revolution” in the transport industry. As early as August 2005, it converted all the gasoline being sold in its stations to E10—a biofuel blended with 10 percent bioethanol, which comes from farm crops such as sugar cane. Aside from having a higher octane rating than premium gasoline, which translates to more engine power, E10 is also richer in oxygen, making it easier to burn with less emission.

To date, Seaoil has already recorded almost 4 million fill-ups of the two variants of its E10, namely, E10 Unleaded and E10 G5. 

MAJOR alternative oil player Seaoil Philippines Inc. is hoping to increase to 500 its retail service stations in the country over the next three years.

A TRADE dispute may arise between the Philippines and Vietnam due to the decision of the Vietnamese government to unilaterally impose additional tariff on the products of Global Steel Philippines Inc. (GSPI).

THE European Union (EU) emphasized that the Philippines is among the developing countries to benefit the most in the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), saying the deal would pave the way for more investment opportunities and facilitate access of the Philippine products into Europe’s rich market.

THE Philippines would rally for the adoption of concessions that would commit rich countries in helping developing nations improve on their trade capacity and technical competence in the form of grants under the World Trade Organization’s “aid for trade” program.

The celebrated cases of the Quisumbings of Cebu involving some P900 million in damages, claims and inheritances may now have to go through the full route after Wesy B. Quisumbing, who is largely credited for rehabilitating the ailing Norkis-Summa Group of Companies starting in the 1980s but was later disowned by her parents allegedly for “exercising” her femininity, decided to withdraw from the mediation proceedings.