PH eyes hosting foreign oil stockpile; advances national petroleum reserve initiative
SINGAPORE – The Philippines is positioning itself as an oil storage hub and is open to hosting fuel-exporting countries’ reserves and refined products to ensure that geopolitical tensions will not disrupt supply, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said, adding that the country is also making progress on its own national petroleum reserve initiative.
Due to the recurring blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, which is among the world’s most critical channels for transporting petroleum products, Middle Eastern countries have been looking for areas to help store their reserves in the region to prevent disruptions, Garin told reporters at the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week.
“Many companies and countries are coming to us. In fact, they can build their own tanks, and their own inventory, or we can build the tanks, and then they can lease it. Or in fact ang isa pa we can build their tanks, magtatago sila dyan walang bayad at all and then we only pay when we use it, so there are many ways na gawin yan without us shelling out too much money also,” she said.
Garin said the DOE is also urging these companies to build refineries in the Philippines.
“What’s in it for us? We have our own, government national reserve, we’re doing that already, the regional stockpiling can be a complement to that. While the region stores in Bataan for example, we also have our national, but in times that we are in need priority tayo,” she said.
Locally, the DOE expects the government-backed national petroleum reserve to be up by next year. An P8-billion fund has been earmarked for the initial phase, she said.
The International Energy Agency lauded the Philippines’ stockpiling efforts.
“It is important that the countries put some oil or products aside to be used on the rainy days,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.
The country is also actively participating in the ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement (APSA).
“Basically, the APSA is: if there’s one country in distress, then other countries will help,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Philippines is also part of the ongoing development of the ambitious ASEAN power grid, which aims to enable multinational power trade between member nations.
On Monday, the Philippines and Singapore also signed a letter of intent to explore opportunities for cross-border electricity connection between the two countries.