KUALA LUMPUR (April 20): Petronas Dagangan Bhd plans to open up to 15 new service stations in 2016, amid the challenging market conditions as crude oil prices remain dampened.

Its managing director and chief executive officer Mohd Ibrahimnuddin Yunus said the company has allocated RM400 million in capital expenditure this year to expand its operations.

"We will be adding stations, but not as many as before. We are looking at 10 to 15 new stations, depending on the demand of the area and the market. We have already opened a few in the first quarter of the year," he told reporters after the company's annual general meeting today.

He added that the group has added about 50 stations over the past five to six years.

"We are looking to spend RM400 million in capex for the year, which will not only be spent on new stations, but also for the refurbishment of stations and depots in accordance to maintenance and HSE (health safety and environmental) requirements," he said.

For its current financial year ending Dec 31, 2016, he said the company will be focusing more on improving its retail segment, but said the commercial segment will not be ignored.

For the aviation fuel segment under its commercial business Ibrahimnuddin said Petronas Dagangan intends to work with more airlines, after securing a few new customers.

"Aviation fuel is one of the focus areas in the commercial business. We just got new customers like Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa and we are always looking to add to our customer base.

"We are in discussions with all airlines in KLIA, and we are aiming to secure a few within the year," he said, without revealing details.