A strategy paper on Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporations Retail Division

Background Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, considered as the second biggest oil refiner in the country, is 68.4% owned by The Shell Petroleum Company Limited (SPCo), 31.6% Filipino shareholders, principally The Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd (18.3%), flagship of the Shell companies in the Philippines. The oil industry has underwent structural changes in the past years, being transformed from a regulated regime to a deregulated state with the implementation of Republic Act 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998. Consequently, new players started coming in the industry, each one aggressively positioning themselves in the market trying to get a piece of the pie. Scope and Limitation of Strategic Paper Since the Oil industry has many dynamic sectors, Retail which pertains to distribution of petroleum products through gasoline stations, the LPG market, Aviation, Lubricants, commercial sector or those catering to the fuel and other petroleum product requirements by the industrial sector, this paper would only concentrate on the Retailing sector or the business of operating Gasoline stations. With the changes in the structure of the industry brought about by legislation, i.e. deregulation law, and the prevailing economic and political conditions in the Philippines, in addition to the passage last June 1999 of the Clean Air act , how can Pilipinas Shell maintain its leadership in the Retail segment? This paper hopes to address all these concerns and dissect competitive framework of the company and the industry it belongs to