By July 16, Filipino motorists in Parañaque will fuel up at the country’s first Aramco-branded service station, a Sucat Road location where an existing Unioil outlet has been rebranded under the Saudi energy giant’s colors. The opening marks the direct return of the world’s largest oil producer to Philippine forecourts nearly two decades after it walked away from the local consumer market.
Roughly ₱4 billion has been earmarked by the Dhahran-based company to bankroll its downstream push, according to industry sources. That capital is meant to grow Unioil’s 165-station footprint and expand fuel storage capacity across the country. Chile and Pakistan received comparable retail investments from Aramco before the Philippine deal took shape, part of a wider campaign by the state-backed exporter to lock in long-term buyers for its crude and refined output.
The rebranded outlets will carry Aramco’s proprietary fuels, and Valvoline lubricants will appear on shelves at chosen sites. Behind the retail launch sits a corporate transaction: Aramco picked up a quarter of Unioil’s equity, a deal the Philippine Competition Commission signed off on before it closed.
Anticipation for the debut has been building through an online channel calling itself “Aramco Stations Philippines,” which listed its address at Unioil’s corporate offices and began posting teasers ahead of the launch. Unioil president Kenneth Pundanera vouched for the page’s authenticity but held back on specifics. Aramco’s representatives did not immediately answer requests for comment.
The Philippine chapter is not new for the company. In 2008 it sold off a 40 percent holding in Petron Corp., the nation’s biggest refiner, closing the door on its earlier presence. Its reentry, analysts said, reads as a vote of confidence in the country’s growth prospects and rising appetite for fuel.
That expansion abroad comes even as the energy sector navigates sharper price swings. In its most recent first quarter, Aramco logged a 25 percent climb in net income to ₱1.89 trillion, a result it tied to solid operations and movements in global crude supply.
