FILIPINO-owned Seaoil Philippines is expecting its market share to double this year as they target their sales volume to hit 240 million liters.

Seaoil president Francis Glenn Yu, during Thursday’s launch of their upgraded gasoline Extreme 97 octane at Crown Plaza Hotel, said they expect their volume growth to be between 40 and 50 percent by end of 2009 despite market volatility.

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“In terms of volume our target is 240 million liters this year and were hitting that target… for our volume growth we’re looking at 40 to 50 percent (increase) compared to last year,” Yu said.

Extreme 97 has a 97+ octane rating providing engine the opportunity to operate at maximum output thus improving combustion and reducing engine wear.

According to Yu, Seaoil currently has four percent market share in the entire oil industry and they expect it to double this year with this upgrade product.

The company, he said, invested P10 million for the research and development of Extreme 97 which covers a period of two years prior to its release to the market.

He added that Extreme 97 will be “initially available in Metro Manila but we are rolling it out nationwide in the coming months.”

Yu said that compare to other products available in the market now, Extreme 97 is advanced since their competitors Chevron is offering octane Gold 95 and Petron has octane Blaze 96.

At present, the official standard set by the Department of Energy for fuel is octane 95.

“The Extreme 97 promise extreme performance is further made possible by its 10 percent ethanol content that functions as boosters to your engine. Conventional gasoline uses lead and other harmful additives as boosters which promote tail-pipe emissions that are harmful to the environment,” added Yu.

Meanwhile, Yu said they are still committed to complete their expansion target of putting up 500 stations nationwide by 2011.

Seaoil has 46 stations nationwide with majority or 41 are located in Metro Manila. (MSN/Sunnex)