Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. is targeting five different regions in the Philippines as part of an expansion program for its automotive and industrial lubricant products.
The company is a licensed blender and distributor of Japanese lubricant manufacturer Idemitsus lubricants. Unioil operates a blending plant in Valenzuela, north of Manila, in the northern end of the country.
The expansion targets areas that include the Southern Tagalog region, Bicol, Northern Luzon, Western Visayas and Mindanao.
We are looking at forging distribution agreements with third party distributor parties in Batangas, Cavite, Quezon, Bicol, Isabela, Cagayan, the Ilocos provinces, Nueva Vizcaya, Panay, Negros and Western Mindanao where we feel there is a growing market for our products, said Ben Dolosa, Unioil Lubricants division manager. By having a network of distributorships, we can popularize our product line, thereby enabling us to fully compete with other companies.
The company said it will initially target 10 new distributors before the end of the year in those regions.
Unioil last year signed Silver Tire Traders Inc., a lube distributor in General Santos City, as its distributor of automotive lubricants in the North and South Cotabato area, which is near the southern end of the country.
The planned expansion is on top of construction of six service stations Unioil plans to open within the year, mostly in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces. Unioil has about 40 retail and service stations, mostly in Luzon, which is the largest and northernmost island group in the Philippines.