Aquino administration pushing for oil-stockpiling program

The administration of President Benigno Aquino III is now pushing for an oil-stockpiling program to underpin energy security. The Energy Department has planned to put up a stockpile facility a decade back. Since nothing really progressed in the past years, it is something the new administration is eyeing to rekindle as a matter of policy. Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras on Monday said the government has yet to firm up details about the location and cost of the stockpiling program. "So far, we do not have facilities, no places to put it. If we do it, who's [going to] pay for it? Is national government [going to] do it? Is it the private sector?" Almendras said. He said the Philippines is highly dependent on imported fuel and previous administrations have raised the need to implement a stockpiling program to shield the country from price volatilities in the world crude market. In 2005, the US Department of Energy (US-DOE) recommended that the Philippines pursue the development of a 30-million barrel strategic stockpile program as cushion against the impact of supply disruptions. The US-DOE Strategic Oil Stockpiling Advisory Team urged the establishment of a stockpile program consisting of 23.5 million barrels of crude, five million barrels of diesel fuel, and 1.5 million barrels of liquefied petroleum gas. "The Philippines must consider a strategic oil-stockpiling program to protect itself from the economic impacts of oil supply disruptions. A supply disruption can result in sharp increases in oil prices that can inflict serious damage on a country’s economy," the report said. It said that the Energy Department should take the lead in developing policies for the country's stockpile program with the Philippine National Oil Co. to establish and manage the stockpile. The Philippines is "highly susceptible" to shortages due to its limited refinery base, it said. The Philippines has only two refineries - Petron Corp.'s in Bataan with a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.’s in Batangas with a capacity of 110,000 bpd. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV