MANILA (Bloomberg): The Philippines said it increased its stockpile of petroleum products to 51 days, as the import-dependent nation searches the world for alternative suppliers while the war in Iran continues.
The Southeast Asian nation’s inventory of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other products stood at 50.94 days as of March 27, up from 45 days previously, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said in a briefing on Monday.
The inventory boost comes as state-owned Philippine National Oil Company helped procure additional supplies to meet the country’s energy requirements.
There were 142,000 barrels of diesel that arrived recently from Japan, and the government expects about 900,000 barrels more from sources including Malaysia, Singapore, India and Oman, Garin said.
"Hopefully we can have more country suppliers because this is the intention of the PNOC that we search for other alternative suppliers, not the supplier countries from the Middle East,” she said. "We want to explore more on the America side like Colombia, Argentina, Canada and the US.”
The Philippines, which imports almost all of its oil from the Middle East, is trying to find other sources to ease the supply crunch that has triggered the government to declare a national energy emergency.
That includes Russia from where refiner Petron Corp. has procured 2.48 million barrels of crude oil and plans to buy more from that country if the war in Iran persists.
China has exported cargoes of diesel and other fuels to Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines over the weekend in what could be a signal of support despite export curbs imposed earlier this month.
Petron was able to secure Russian oil after the US issued a waiver allowing the purchase of the crude. Garin said the Philippines, a longtime US ally, has been given a window to buy more Russian oil until April 12 under that waiver.
She said the move had clearance from all parties involved. "The primary concern of our country right now is to make sure that we have enough supply,” the energy chief added.
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