The Philippines has bolstered its petroleum reserves to an average of 50.94 days of supply as of March 27, a modest but notable improvement from the 45-day figure the government cited earlier, the Department of Energy reported Monday.
DOE Secretary Sharon Garin attributed the uptick to an aggressive procurement drive that has the Marcos administration sourcing diesel from multiple countries to cushion the economy against disruptions tied to the Middle East conflict. The government has ordered roughly one million barrels — equivalent to more than 165 million liters — of diesel in total.
An initial Japanese shipment of 22.6 million liters landed last week, and a string of additional deliveries is scheduled throughout April. Some 300,000 barrels from Malaysia and Singapore are expected in early April, followed by a comparable volume from North Asia or India by mid-month. A third batch, also 300,000 barrels routed through Oman via Singapore, is due by month’s end.
Garin said the arrival of the first cargo already demonstrated that the procurement effort is working. “What this tells us is clear, that we have supply. What we have consumed last week was replenished and even increased,” she told reporters.
By product, kerosene holds the longest runway at 107.88 days, followed by jet fuel at 62.69 days and gasoline at 59.78 days. Fuel oil stands at 57.27 days, diesel at 46.93 days, and LPG at the lowest level among the group at 34.02 days.
Garin pointed to the gasoline figure as an illustration of why the country has room to maneuver. “When you say 59 days for gasoline, that means we have almost 60 days to look for replenishment… Most of the orders coming from Southeast Asia take about a week or 10 days to reach the Philippines, so there’s more than enough time,” she said.
Even so, the DOE is not treating the inventory cushion as cause for complacency. Garin urged households and businesses to cut consumption while the global situation remains unpredictable. “Dapat sana matipid tayo para hindi mabilis maubos ang ating fuel, because we don’t know where the war is going— kung matatapos, kung magtatagal, kung kakalma na ang gera o mag-eescalate pa,” she said.
A separate question remains unresolved: how exactly the government intends to move its procured oil into the hands of consumers. Garin acknowledged that distribution will run through private oil firms, since the state lacks its own storage capacity. “Dadaan pa siya sa oil companies kasi the oil companies are the one with the infrastructure. Yung PNOC they store it in the storage of the oil companies kasi wala po yung gobyerno nang sariling storage so doon na rin papunta yan, sa mga oil companies. (On) how we will distribute or how we will sell, we can provide the guidelines eventually,” she said. Price control mechanisms are also under study, though no decisions have been announced.
IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa argued that securing supply volumes alone falls short of what the crisis demands. He called on the government to bypass private intermediaries entirely and either subsidize or freely distribute the oil it procures. “For the government-procured na oil supplies to make any difference, kailangan ilabas siya sa merkado at either subsidized cost or libre. Or better yet, mismong gobyerno ang mag-distribute, na hindi dinadaan through the oil firms. In times of emergency, the government has to step in to moderate that profit,” Africa said.
