State majority-owned Bangchak Petroleum Plc (BCP) has vowed to overtake Esso to become Thailand's second-largest oil retailer next year, a year ahead of its original target.
Yodphot Wongrukmit, the senior executive-vice president for marketing, said BCP sold 2 million litres less than Esso (Thailand) in May compared with a gap of 50 million litres last December.
BCP is heavily promoting biofuel, particularly gasohol E20 and E85, which are mixtures of 20% ethanol and 80% petrol and a 85:15 ratio, respectively.
As a result, retail sales volume has risen over the past couple years.
In April, BCP's sales volume rose by 12% from December to 100 million litres as E20 sales rose by 23%, E85 300% and E10 10%.
"We're confident our sales volume, which now ranks third, will continue to grow until we become the second-largest player in the retail business next year," said Mr Yodphot.
According to the Energy Business Department, PTT controlled the largest market share in May, with 34%, followed by Esso (15.6%), BCP (14.5%), Shell (13%) and Caltex.
To boost sales, BCP will spend 3 billion baht from 2013-15 to upgrade oil facilities, mount marketing campaigns, build new service stations and renovate existing ones. The number of E20 pumps will increase to 700 nationwide by year-end from 658 now, while stations selling E85 will rise to 100 locations from 70.
Seventy stations will incorporate Big C Mini Marts, up from 30 at present, while the number of Inthanin Coffee Shops will rise to 320 from 265.
BCP's customer loyalty card, introduced three years ago, has proved popular, with the number of cardholders rising by 63.6% from a year ago, to 900,000.
Cardholders receive price discounts for petrol and non-oil services.
"Non-oil businesses boosted petrol sales volume by 5% last year. BCP expects revenue from non-oil businesses will generate 15% of our total revenue in 2015, up from 10% this year," Mr Yodphot said.
BCP also plans to have 1,250 petrol stations by 2015, up from 1,170 now.
It also plans to open three more service stations in Myanmar this year bringing the total of four, while joint ventures in Laos and Cambodia are being considered.
On the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Friday, shares of BCP closed at 35.50 baht, down 25 satang, in trade worth 56.3 million baht while those of Esso (Thailand) fell 15 satang to close at 7.20 baht in trade worth 39.51 million baht.