Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. said it will build a bitumen plant adjacent to its oil refinery in Tabangao, Batangas province, Philippines, to take advantage of the government’s aggressive infrastructure plans.

Shell is the largest bitumen distributor in Asia-Pacific.

“Certainly, the bitumen facility is expected to be up and running probably in two to three years,” Cesar Romero, the newly appointed chairman of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, said. “As we all know, infrastructure is a priority in the country. It allows us to participate more in the road building,” Romero said.

In 2003, Pilipinas Shell opened an PHP80-million (USD1.6 million) bitumen import, storage and distribution facility in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, in northern Mindanao in southern Philippines. The facility includes a 4,000-metric tonne (MT) storage tank and a 150-MT tank, with a throughput capacity of 72,000 MT per annum.

Romero said the bitumen plant will add value to the company, which successfully launched its initial public offering in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) last week. Pilipinas Shell listed on the PSE on Nov. 4, raising PHP 18.4 billion (USD378.7 million), from an offering of 291 million shares.