The market share of the biggest three oil companies in the Philippines—Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Philippines—eroded over the past two years to less than 40 percent in the first half from more than 50 percent in 2019.
Data from the Department of Energy showed the three oil majors’ market share for all petroleum products fell 16.1 percentage points to 38.96 percent in the first six months from 46.40 percent in the same period in 2020 and 50.11 percent in the first six months of 2019. Their combined share accounted for more than 77 percent in 2010.
Petron Corp. captured the biggest market share at 18.6 percent in the six-month period this year, followed by Pilipinas Shell at 15.5 percent and Chevron, which markets the Caltex brand, with 4.86 percent.
Petron, the biggest player, reported a 7-percent decline in total sales in the first half from a year ago as the market continued to reel from the impact of the pandemic. Pilipinas Shell recorded a flat growth in the same period.
The share of small oil players continued to widen, reaching 52.59 percent in the first half this year from 46.57 percent in the same period in 2020 and 41.78 percent in the first half of 2019.
Among them is Phoenix Petroleum, which reported a market share of 7.8 percent in the first quarter, larger than the share of Chevron.
Other players include PTT Philippines Corp., Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc., Seaoil Philippines Inc., Total/Filoil, Jetti Petroleum Inc., Filoil, Marubeni, Micro Dragon Petroleum Inc., Goldenshare Commerce, Warbucks Industries Inc., Era1 Petroleum Corp., High Glory Subic International Logistics Inc., SL Harbor Bulk Terminal Corp., Jadelink Subic Inc., SL Gas, Power Fill and Petro Trade.
Meanwhile, the share of end-users increased to 8.45 percent in the first half from 7.02 percent in 2020 and 8.11 percent in 2019.
The Department of listed Liquigaz as the market leader for liquefied petroleum gas at 28.85 percent, South Pacific at 23.22 percent and Petron at 18.96 percent.
Meanwhile, the country’s oil firms are expected to raise pump prices this week by P0.60 to P0.70 per liter for diesel and P0.20 to P0.30 per liter for gasoline to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market, according to the weekly forecast of Unioil Petroleum Philippines.
The expected oil price hike on Tuesday ended three weeks of rollbacks. The oil price increase was triggered by anticipation of the increased production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, which are set to meet Sept. 1.
The last oil price adjustment was made on Aug. 24 when the companies implemented a price cut in domestic oil products of P0.80 to P1 per liter for gasoline, P0.75 per liter for diesel and P0.90 per liter for kerosene.
The adjustments resulted in total increase of P12.45 per liter for gasoline, P9.35 per liter for diesel and P7.40 per liter for kerosene since the start of the year.
