Retail oil business
WATCHARA PUSAYANAWIN
THE NATION
Vientiane October 30, 2012 1:00 am
The move aims to serve the Asean Economic Community, which is to come into effect in 2015, and build PTT's retail brand into one of the top in each of these countries.
Pailin made the announcement yesterday when PTT inaugurated its first service station in Nong Tang, in the Lao capital of Vientiane, in a ceremony jointly presided over by Nam Viyaketh, the country's industry and trade minister.
The Platinum PTT Life Station, the first of its kind outside of Thailand, is designed to popularise the PTT brand around the region and is timed for the run-up to the AEC's launch.
In Laos, PTT plans to spend at least Bt800 million on new-station development and the upgrading of existing service stations. It will expand the number of stations in the country from 20 at present to 60 by the end of 2017, and aims to boost its market share from the current third-ranked operator to second-largest over the period.
Asean is considered a market with vast potential to aid PTT's business expansion into a leading multinational company, Pailin said.
The launch of the Platinum PTT Life Station, a concept that has met with considerable success in Thailand, in Laos is regarded as a pilot retail investment move into a neighbouring country.
LAND-LINK
Laos is a high-potential market and a land-link for Thailand to Vietnam, Cambodia and China, all of which have healthy economic-growth rates, particularly China, which is a huge market with 1.5 billion inhabitants, he said.
PTT is also keen to invest in other countries with growth prospects, such as Myanmar and the Philippines, he added.
"PTT's policy is to invest in the retail fuel business in Asean more explicitly, aiming at becoming a top-three retail brand in each country, not just for fuel and oil marketing, but also for other retail marketing activities accompanying service stations, like Cafe Amazon and Jiffy convenience stores," said the company chief.
Executive vice president Attapol Rerkphiboon said the demand for petrol in Laos tended to increase by more 10 per cent per year, against just 2-3 per cent in Thailand, and this presented a great opportunity for PTT.
The company will also expand the number of service stations in Cambodia from the current 14 to 45 over the next five years, while the number in the Philippines will double to 100.
PTT also hopes to establish 40 service stations in Myanmar, where it presently has no such outlets. The company has set up PTT Oil Myanmar to conduct a feasibility study into retail-station investment.
If all these plans come to fruition, PTT will have a total of 245 stations in these four countries in five years' time.
Attapol said PTT's retail-station business in the Philippines, where there are already many giant operators, would face fierce competition, so it is expected to take three years to become a top-three player in that market.
Meanwhile, the company is also interested in conducting a feasibility study into potential investment in lubricant business in Vietnam and Indonesia, as both countries are yet to open up to foreign investment in retail oil business.
PTT expects its retail oil business across Asean, excluding Thailand, will account for 30 per cent of its estimated overall annual turnover of Bt500 billion in the segment within five years.
Sarun Rungkasiri, senior executive vice president for oil business, said the company had also set aside Bt3 billion for upgrading domestic retail stations to the same Platinum PTT Life Station standard. It currently has 1,300 retail stations across the Kingdom.
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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/PTT-sets-Bt6bn-budget-for-5-year-expansion-30193279.html
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