Regency Petroleum to build $300m gas station near Kingston’s airport

Regency Petroleum will invest $300 million to build a service station beside the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, with a strategy that extends well beyond fuel sales.

CEO Andrew Williams said the company recently secured approvals to build a facility for the storage and dispensing of petroleum products at the site, located at the Kingston-bound exit of the roundabout near the airport – a spot generally regarded as the gateway to the city.

“We’ve started clearing already and other preliminary moves,” Williams told the Financial Gleaner. “We acquired the tanks already; they’ve been here for a few weeks now. Other equipment is on the way.”

The approval brings Regency’s Kingston footprint to two locations and its islandwide total to five.

Over the decades, successive fuel-marketing brands have pulled out from the area. The prevailing logic was that motorists top up before heading to the airport to avoid running dry along the Palisadoes Road – leaving little demand for a station on the return trip.

Regency, however, thinks it can draw waiting motorists with more than petrol. The capital outlay will cover six double-sided pumps, an expansive food court, a convenience store, and an undisclosed fast-food franchise.

“It’s going to be one of our largest projects,” Williams said, in an oblique reference to another large-scale development at Crawford, St Elizabeth, which is set to house a truck stop and rest area. “It’s not only the gas station – we’re going to have our convenience stores, and so on, along with the fast-food chain outlet.”

The location will also serve as Regency’s corporate headquarters. Williams said the station will be company-owned but dealer-operated.

Once open, it will be the only petrol station within a six-kilometre radius. The nearest alternatives are two Total Energies stations at Harbour View and a members-only dispensing facility at Harbour Head, a short distance towards the cement factory. A Petcom station near the airport’s parking lot has long been shuttered with no apparent prospect of reopening.

Williams estimates the project will take 12 to 18 months to complete. The chief challenge so far, he said, is the topography – deep, sandy soil near the former Gunboat Beach and the entrance to the Jamaica Yacht Club. Sand has been stockpiled to make way for harder fill material.

Regency Petroleum Limited, listed on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, was incorporated in May 2018, and began trading operations in January 2019. Founded by Williams, the wholly Jamaican-owned company is headquartered in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

Its initial public offering opened on November 24, 2022 and closed the following day after being oversubscribed. The company has consistently returned a profit since listing, with consistent double-digit revenue and earnings growth. Audited results show revenues grew 24 per cent to $2.02 billion, the highest since its initial public offering. Net profit climbed 32 per cent to $114.5 million, or $0.075 per share, for the year ended December 2025. Gains came despite a volatile macroeconomy affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

neville.graham@gleanerjm.com