By Myrna M. Velasco
Diversifying Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. is not just cementing its market ranking ascend into the downstream oil industry of the Philippines, but it is also tugging its way into carving a business niche in the Southeast Asian region.
The oil firm said that’s a goal that it intends to concretize via the trading arm it set up in Singapore last year -- via its incorporated PNX Petroleum Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Phoenix Petroleum said that shall enhance the company’s “petroleum efficiencies” and will provide it “access to the regional market.”
In the Philippine oil industry, the Uy-led firm already gained traction as the sector’s fourth biggest player having successfully logged a market share of 6.2-percent in 2017, an expansion from 5.7-percent the previous year, as reported by the Department of Energy.
The company said this then reinforces its stature as “the fastest-growing oil company in the country.”
Given all recent accomplishments, Phoenix Petroleum President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis A. Uy asserted that “as we enter the next phase of our growth, we will continue to be passionate and committed in serving our customers’ needs and growing the business.”
Beyond organic growth it had cast for the downstream oil sector, Phoenix Petroleum has also been broadening its investment pitch in property development, shipping and is similarly setting keen eye on the market-shifting gas-to-power industry of the energy sector, thus, it has also been putting up key people that it will be needing to underpin targeted investment expansions.
The company has just recently designated Ma. Concepcion F. De Claro as its new Chief Finance Officer (CFO), taking the place of Joseph John L. Ong, who will be taking a stride on his new role as the company’s Treasurer and Head of Corporate Finance.
De Claro’s appointment will be effective May 1 this year, and Phoenix Petroleum indicated that such move was resorted to “in view of the company’s aggressive growth plans.”
Notably, Phoenix Petroleum has been swiftly moving across industries investment-wise, with the vigorous acquisitions that it has been pursuing since 2016. It has been previously reported that Phoenix Petroleum is targeting liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture in the country, via a portended tie-up with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), although this is an investment sphere that the company has yet to make ‘hard announcements’ on and set confirmations of tangible capital outlays.
On all the ventures at its line-up, the company partly places significant part of its bets on first-rate performance that its key finance officers could deliver.
With De Claro, a certified public accountant, the company emphasized that it can lean on the 36-year extensive experience that she will be bringing to the organization, especially on facets of “financial management and corporate planning mainly with the energy and oil industry.”