Firm to sell Italian engine oil Agip in RP

MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine company and its European partners will be introducing “Agip," an Italian engine oil brand, betting that the high-quality, environmentally-friendly product will attract Filipino customers. Veredium Energy Ventures, Inc., Agip’s exclusive Philippine distributor, will be infusing P100 million for the next two years as part of its “intensive marketing campaign" for what it claims as Italy’s top engine oil brand. Besides emphasizing Agip’s product quality, the company’s marketing campaign will also underscore its ecological soundness. The company’s products “are the first and only engine oils in the Philippines and the region to have earned the Green Choice Seal for our strict adherence to stringent technical and environmental standard," Petteri Makitalo, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said in a briefing. These standards include a minimum 10,000 km oil change interval and a system of retrieval and disposal of at least 25 percent of engine oil sold," he added. Veredium, chaired by former senator Leticia Ramos Shahani, also plans to sell at least 15 million liters of its engine oil in the Philippines, which is ten percent of its total sales of 156 million liters. To meet its sales goals, the company will distribute its products in Metro Manila and then in Visayas and Mindanao, Makitalo said. At the same time, it will flood the market with its products by partnering with a few distributors which will target 100 retailers, Makitalo added. Its lubricant warehouse in Iligan City will complement the company’s expansion in Mindanao, the company said. The company may also consider putting up a blending plant in the Philippines, said Makitalo, who is a co-founder and trustee of the Foreign Chambers Council of the Philippines and also a trustee of the Philippine-Finland Association. Veredium already has a blending facility in Singapore. “If the sales are good in the next two to three years, we may consider constructing a blending facility or partner with an existing company with a blending plant," he said. A 15 million-liter plant would require at least $500,000 capital. Veredium, the exclusive distributor of AGIP lubricants, is also the exclusive partner of BASF A.G. for Performance Chemicals. Through its European affiliate, the company provides services to Asian companies to develop new markets in Western and Eastern Europe. - GMANews.TV