TO further cement its position in the petroleum retail market, Petron Corp. revealed plans to construct 12 new service stations along the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), its chairman said.
“Six going north and six going south,” Ramon S. Ang said. “We think volume is huge here because it’s long-distance travel.”
The cost to put up one service station is roughly P250 million. With 12 new stations in the pipeline, Petron is likely to spend P3 billion for the 12 planned stations along the 88.85- kilometer, four-lane expressway.
The company ended the first quarter with over 2,200 stations nationwide. It is aiming to bring the number to 5,000 in the next few years, Ang said.
“We are hopeful we can look for attractive sites where we can locate more Petron stations. Even if you have the money to construct, if the location is not attractive, then your investment will fail,” Ang said.
Last week Ang said he expects Petron’s earnings this year to reach between P15 billion and 18 billion, nearly triple the P6.27 billion it posted in 2015.
“We are targeting P15 billion to P18 billion in net income this year. More efficient ang oil refinery namin because we just finished upgrading it,” Ang said. The oil firm had just completed its $2-billion RMP-2 (Refinery Master Plan -2) project aimed at drastically increasing production of gasoline, diesel and petrochemicals at Petron’s Bataan refinery.
The upgraded facility would also enhance the country’s supply security since it gives more flexibility to refine crude oil from various sources. More important, Petron would be capable of locally producing fuels that meet the more stringent Euro 4 environmental standard.