The reporter learned that Sinopec, the world's largest oil refining company and China's second largest oil company, has recently opened a new gas station in Singapore. This is also the company's second overseas gas station.
Previously, Sinopec's first gas station in Singapore opened on December 18, 2018. It is operated by a subsidiary company in Singapore of Sinopec's wholly-owned subsidiary Sinopec (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Hong Kong Company"). From the perspective of the industry, this is a change made by the state-owned petrochemical giant in response to the intensifying competition in the domestic refined oil retail market and taking the initiative to go out and gain the initiative.
With the relaxation of access, foreign investment has continued to expand its tentacles in China's refined oil retail market in recent years. Especially since the restriction on Chinese control of more than 30 foreign-funded gas station chains was lifted on July 28, 2018, my country's petroleum downstream sector has been basically fully opened, and more and more foreign investors have joined the competition in the Chinese market.
From the perspective of the industry, although my country's refined oil retail market structure will be difficult to shake in the short term, the addition of foreign capital will inevitably make the current competitive landscape more intense, forcing my country's petrochemical giants to accelerate the expansion of their overseas retail networks.
As we all know, Singapore, as the world's third largest oil refining center, the world's oil trading hub and Asia's petroleum product pricing center, plays a pivotal role in the global energy field. However, local gas station land supply is small, bidding prices are high, and competition is fierce. In order to develop an overseas retail network, the Hong Kong company arranged for dedicated personnel to conduct on-site inspections, demand surveys, legal consultation and other preliminary work, and finally won the land at a very small bidding price difference from its competitors.
Different from the first one which was built on vacant land, Sinopec’s second gas station in Singapore was converted from an old station. Official data shows that on the day of trial operation, the pricing of Sinopec gas stations in Singapore, whether it was diesel or gasoline of No. 95, No. 98 or even higher grades, was uniformly priced at 3.86 Singapore dollars/liter, which is equivalent to about 19 yuan/liter in RMB (may be adjusted later). Considering the per capita income level in Singapore, this price is relatively favorable.
It is reported that there are less than 200 local gas stations in Singapore, and most of them are controlled by PetroChina (SPC Gas Station), Exxon Mobil, and Shell. Among them, SPC is a Singapore Petroleum Company established in 1969. It was fully acquired by PetroChina in 2009 and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroChina. Currently, PetroChina has more than 40 gas stations in Singapore. The number of gas stations and the retail market share of gasoline and diesel account for more than 20%. Its local influence cannot be underestimated.
Zhuochuang Information analyst Feng Xu believes that for the Singapore fuel market, the entry of Chinese companies not only enriches market participants, but also adds new options to local consumers. For my country's two major oil giants, the layout of overseas markets is to keep up with the pace of China's economic opening to the outside world and is conducive to creating a new situation in international business development.
It is also reported that the Singapore SPC logo will be deactivated in the future and all will be changed to the "PetroChina" logo, which means that PetroChina's brand influence will be enhanced again.
