The Philippines may experience an oil supply shortage soon

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, one of the problems we’ve been dealing with domestically is the continuous rise in fuel prices. Ever since the start of 2022 gasoline has gone up Php 8.00 while diesel increased a wallet pinching Php11.00 (ouch).

As if things couldn’t get any worse — according to the Department of Energy (DOE) — there’s a chance that the fuel supply may experience a disruption. Ergo, fuel prices will continue to increase. While this is of course a cause for panic, the DOE has a plan to counter it. A task force has been set up to assess and come up with contingencies to address the possible internal and external fuel supply disruptions.

DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau Assistant Director says they are already in talks with other concerned agencies to be able to draft and oil contingency plan for the Philippines. “The DOE is in close coordination with the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) and other government agencies to determine the level of demand or requirements of different sectors, like the transport sector and other industries, to be able to draft the oil contingency plan,” Romero added further.

As grave as the situation seems we’re not alone, due to the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and Russia and the United States of America, not to mention the maintenance work of an oil pipeline in Libya, and oil spills in Ecuador and Kazakhstan.

The DOE was quick to reiterate that the oil contingency plan is just one of the measures it’s taking until such time that the country is ready to put up its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) program. An SPR is when the country will fill up its fuel reserves to be able to still meet the country’s energy demands despite a crisis in the importation of fuel.

There is no confirmation yet on when the said “crisis” will start, but given that the DOE is taking measures means that the situation might only get worse before it gets better. The good thing is, the DOE is not wasting time in trying to deal with the looming supply disruption.

Source: Yugatech