The Philippine government on Thursday confirmed the arrival of privately-bought 700,000 barrels of Russian crude oil to help replenish the country’s dwindling fuel supply due to the constriction of supply with Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Both Malacanang Palace and the Department of Energy (DoE) made the confirmation, saying the Sierra Leone-flagged ship Sara Sky brought the first Russian oil for the first time in five years.
The ship docked in the Philippines’ lone oil refinery in Bataan province operated by Petron Corporation.
On Friday, DoE secretary Sharon Garin also confirmed the arrival of an additional 142,000 barrels of oil, sourced by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration through its Emergency Energy Security Program.
Earlier, Philippine ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez revealed Manila secured waivers from the Donald Trump government to obtain fuel supply from US-sanctioned countries such as Iran and Venezuela, particularly oil that have been stranded at sea, as well as Russia.
“We will continue to source those supplies … In our analysis, we do not have a supply problem with petroleum products,” Marcos said Wednesday.
He assured the country that the Philippines still has a 45-day buffer stock of fuel in its inventory, adding that as of Friday, the country has fuel supply until the end of June.
The Philippines is the first country in the world to declare a “State of National Energy Emergency” as majority of its traditional suppliers such as China, South Korea and Japan announced suspension of refined petroleum exportation because of the Middle East war.
Mountain out of a molehill
But while Marcos crowed about the arrival of supplies from non-traditional sources, observers have pointed out that the new arrival would not even last two days.
The Philippines consumes consumes approximately 473,000 to 486,600 barrels of petroleum products per day (BPD), making 842,000 barrels sufficient for only 1.7 days.
Political writer Gerry Cacanindin said the newly-arrived supply could not be described as a stockpile, as the Marcos government seems to make it appear, but a “stopgap.”
“[T]his is why the government should manage expectations. Eight hundred thousand barrels sounds a lot but it won’t even cover two days of consumption,” Cacanindin said.
Meanwhile, the country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) suspended five of its routes – two international and three domestic – as fuel supply worries continue to batter the aviation industry.
Asia’s oldest airline said its Cebu-Guam flights are suspended starting April 16 whole its Cebu-Ho Chi Minh service will stop beginning April 19. Domestically, PAL will indefinitely cut its Clark-Siargao from May 4, Cebu-Ozamiz from May 5, and Cebu-Calbayog. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
