Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- October 11, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department
of Energy (DOE) is looking to procure a floating oil storage facility as an
initial measure in its plan to establish the country’s strategic petroleum
reserve (SPR), its top official said yesterday.
During the Senate budget hearing
yesterday, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the agency is working on putting
up a strategic oil reserve in case of emergency.
However, the SPR facility would take
a long time to construct.
“It takes at least two years to make
it happen because of construction of storage facilities. In case of emergency,
we can have a floating storage,” Cusi said.
In explaining the floating storage
facility, DOE undersecretary Donato Marcos said a vessel could be used as
storage while the onshore SPR is still being constructed.
“We can lease the floating vessel
for the time being before completing the SPR,” he said.
The floating SPR can double the
current minimum inventory requirements—30 days for crude oil, 15 days for
finished products and seven days for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Since last year, the DOE has been
pushing for the establishment of a strategic oil reserve for the country.
This is part of the agency’s long
term solution in shielding the country from the price volatility in the
international oil market and in ensuring fuel supply security.
Meanwhile, the DOE has also been in
discussions with oil producers for an agreement to source finished petroleum
products.
Among the countries the agency is in
talks with include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Brunei and Russia.
“We have been negotiating for a
bilateral agreement na we should get allocation from oil producers just in case
there will be a supply problem. It’s a government-to-government deal to ensure
there is continuous supply,” Cusi said.
The DOE had earlier directed PNOC-Exploration
Corp. (PNOC-EC) to engage in the selling of petroleum products sourced from
non-OPEC members to independent petroleum dealers and to vulnerable sectors,
such as public utility transport groups.
Cusi, who is also the ex-officio
chairman of the PNOC-EC, said the move was meant to enhance competition among
existing oil industry players and stabilize domestic oil prices.
During that time, global oil prices
skyrocketed to $80 per barrel while the peso’s weakness against the dollar
drove local fuel prices higher.
No comments:
Post a Comment