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Top Line, the company behind Light Fuels service stations in the Visayas, is partnering with LuDo & LuYm Corporation for an energy facility that will improve fuel storage capacity in the central Philippines.
MANILA, Philippines – An oil storage facility in Cebu City that was once part of a cooking oil factory will soon be used as an oil depot that could help improve oil supply in the Visayas in the central Philippines.
Cebu-based LuDo & LuYm Corporation, the 137-year-old company behind cooking oil brands Capitol, Pigeon, Falcon, and Farola, will lease parts of its storage facilities to Top Line Logistics, a subsidiary of listed oil exporter Top Line Business Development Corporation (Top Line), for the Top Line Complex oil depot expansion project.
The agreement to lease the LuD & LuYm oil storage facility in Cebu City will triple Top Line’s oil storage capacity from 10 million liters to 30 million liters.
“The Top Line Energy Complex is envisioned as a strategic oil transportation and storage hub that will support TOP’s (Top Line Business Development Corporation) expansion and contribute to efforts to strengthen energy security and oil supply resilience in the Visayas,” Top Line said in its disclosure on Tuesday, May 19.
It said the agreement with LuDo & LuYm Corporation marks the first phase of the Top Line Energy Complex, which will focus on the “renovation and upgrading” of the LuD & LuYm depot facility. It expects this phase to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2026.
“We are entering our next phase of growth, and the Top Line Energy Complex is the cornerstone of our continued expansion. Through this agreement, we are strengthening our capacity and ability to expand to serve the energy needs of our customers while supporting broader efforts to improve regional energy security,” said Eugene Erik Lim, CEO of Top Line.
Douglas Luym, chairman of LuDo & LuYm Group, said the partnership with Top Line “has great potential to create long-term value and contribute to the development of a more reliable fuel supply chain in Cebu and the wider Visayas region.”
Top Line said that once completed, the Top Line Energy Complex will enhance its logistics capacity, operational efficiency, and supply chain reliability as the company expands its network of Light Fuel service centers and commercial customers.
“This marks the first phase of a broader vision to establish a strategic oil transportation and storage hub in the region,” said Top Line.
The Philippines currently has limited oil storage capacity and no strategic oil reserves. It depends on the storage capacity of the private petrol distributors in the Philippines, while Ramon Ang’s Petron Corporation is the only one with the capacity to refine the oil. Others import finished oil products.
A Petron Corporation official has proposed the installation of a tank farm in Mariveles, Bataan, in Central Luzon that can store 15 million barrels of crude oil, which is suitable for storage of 90 days or three months.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said on Monday, May 18, that the Philippines’ The average fuel count had dropped from around 50 days to 45 days as of May 15, broken down by type of fuel as follows: 47 days for gasoline, 46 days for diesel, 60 days for jet fuel, 50 days for fuel oil, 30 days for LPG, and 152 days for kerosene.
The Top Line started on the Philippine Stock Exchange in April 2025, making it only the sixth Cebuano company to go public. – Rappler.com
