Phoenix places record-breaking order of 650,000 LPG cylinders

Diversifying Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. has placed an industry record-breaking order of 600,000 to 650,000 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders that shall also cover its sizeable expansion in the Luzon market.

Following an acquisition from Malaysian firm Petronas which had just traditionally served Visayas and Mindanao markets, the Phoenix Super LPG brand is now eyeing to make inroads in the juicy market of Luzon.

“We placed orders in the region of 600,000 to 650,000 cylinders over a specified period. It will be delivered on a programmed basis for next year,” Phoenix Petroleum Chief Operating Officer Henry Albert R. Fadullon said.

He qualified that if gleaned from historical accounts of the Philippine LPG sector, that is “probably one of the biggest purchases of cylinders placed in the market,” further qualifying that “what I mean is, it’s one of the most significant one-time tender in the history of industry.”

With targets now cast in the company’s investment plans, Fadullon further indicated potential market growth, primarily in the LPG segment of their oil portfolio.

“Our market share is less than 6.0 percent nationwide, but there’s a lot of opportunity for growth since 80 percent of the market is in Luzon,” he stressed.

On product distribution, he emphasized that their strategy would still be anchored on the traditional outlets, but it must be done in a way that it would be close enough to the customer.

“There will be traditional retail trading outlets that will be supplemented by retail stations which will carry the products,” he explained.

Fadullon added “we intend to market it the traditional way of making LPG available… but the trick is, you should be able to make it available within the next 15-30 minutes from a phone call.”

Those retail outlets, he said, shall be able to make that LPG product accessible to the customer even from those small corners in a community.

“Probably 95 percent of the instances when you run out of LPG is in when a household is cooking. So in that instance, you should be able to get your LPG and you can continue cooking within the next 15 to 30 minutes, so the idea is to provide that in as many outlets as possible and make LPG as readily available to the consumer either through a phone call or by physically dropping at an outlet,” he cited.

Pricing-wise, the Phoenix Petroleum executive pointed out that with their brand, they would just strive to be as competitive as possible.

Additionally, he noted that the advantage of patronizing their product would be on having a safe and cleaner preference.

“The mix of our LPG is cleaner, if you use our LPG and if you look at the bottom of your stove, you’ll see that there will be less soot and that’s a clear feedback, aside from assurance of safety,” Fadullon reiterated.