Selim Şiper, the CEO of Petrol Ofisi (PO), owned by the Netherlands-based Vitol, said yesterday the company has full confidence in Turkey, announcing that they determined the annual investment amount base as a minimum TL 1 billion ($235.4 million).

Explaining that the investments will be directed to plants and stations in 2018, Şiper said first they want to take positions in Istanbul-Antalya, Istanbul-Ankara and Ankara-Niğde routes.

Şiper said that PO has a strong infrastructure and that they have an annual production capacity of 150,000 tons in mineral oil. He also pointed out that they are the fuel suppliers of giant projects like the Istanbul New Airport, Third Bridge, Çanakkale Bridge and Ankara-Niğde Motorway, stressing that Petrol Ofisi employs about 50,000 people in total.

"We welcomed 2018 with growth. We increased our net sales figure from TL 30.8 billion in 2016 to TL 39 billion in 2017. We increased our market share below 20 percent in 2017 to 22 percent at the end of the year," he continued.

Referring to the development of the Turkish fuel market, Şiper stated that the market grew by between 2 and 7 percent in 2017, highlighting that there is no problem with growth in the market.

He indicated that the number of motor vehicles in Turkey reached 22.3 million as of the end of February, while the number of cars per thousand people in Turkey is about 200, which will rise to 400 in the next decade. "Who would not want to invest in such a market? If you enter this market with reasonable expectations, you will get results. That is what Vitol thinks," Şiper concluded.