Listed firm Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. further expanded its market share to 8.3 percent in the first half this year from a leaner 7.1 percent last year, securing its stature as the third biggest player in the deregulated downstream oil industry in the country.

Citing data from the Department of Energy (DOE), the oil company stated that by cornering such significant pie in the market, it was able to steer its way in the growing market share of independent players in the sector.

“Phoenix Petroleum is leading the pack of independent oil companies whose combined market share has now reached 61 percent of the total domestic petroleum market amidst market conditions that have shifted demand in favor of smaller retailers,” the Uy-led company said in a statement.

Phoenix Petroleum has been the only known major company of Davao businessman Dennis A. Uy before he gained prominence in the corporate world following massive business acquisitions that he pursued since the Duterte administration took office in 2016.

The oil company further noted that “the cumulative market share of smaller firms, excluding end-users, has increased from 48.8-percent to 52.5-percent in the first half of 2021.”

Comparatively, he market share of the major players – which is now primarily reigned over by Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. – had contracted to 40 percent in the first semester compared to 43.9-percent, respectively, in the same period in 2020.

Henry Albert Fadullon, Phoenix Petroleum president said the company’s expanding market share “not only does it show how far we’ve come as a brand, but is also very telling of the capability of newer and smaller Filipino businesses to compete with well-established global brands.”

The company chief executive primarily said the journey of Phoenix Petroleum as a homegrown oil firm in Davao way back in 2002; then as its market expanded, it was able to gradually build up also its presence in Luzon and Visayas markets through the years.

In 2016, the oil firm laid down its target to clinch its market spot as third largest player in the industry – and that was a feat that Phoenix Petroleum was able to pull off last year.

Phoenix Petroleum specified that its fuel market share has “more than doubled in the last decade,” noting that in 2011, it only had market share of 3.3% but that substantially climbed to more than eight-percent this year.

It stressed that the commercial segment of its business “was the initial driver of growth, but retail business has likewise expanded tremendously in the last few years.”

Given agile prospects in the country’s oil demand – especially on a post-pandemic stage of economic recovery, Phoenix Petroleum has likewise been scaling up its retail network with a target to reach 700 stations nationwide this year.

“We remain optimistic for the remainder of the year as nationwide vaccinations continue and more economic activities are restored,” Fadullon pointed out.

Within this year’s second quarter, the oil firm posted brisk sales with 70-percent volume increase and that propelled it into its 25-percent year-on-year growth for the first half of 2021.