The country’s net oil import bill last year stood at $11.15 billion, 89 percent higher than 2020’s $5.9 billion as fuel demand recovered from the effects of the pandemic, initial data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed.
Last year’s performance surpassed pre-pandemic figures of $11.08 billion in 2019.
Net import bill is the difference between oil imports and exports.
Net import volume increased by almost 47 percent to 22.2 billion liters last year from 15.14 billion liters in 2020.
For imports alone, the country bought 23.4 billion liters of fuel last year, 8 percent higher from 21.63 million liters in 2020 with equivalent cost also increasing by 84 percent to $11.73 billion from $6.37 billion.
Of the total fuel shipped to the Philippines last year, 18.6 billion liters are finished products while the remaining 4.72 billion liters are crude.
For exports, the country sold a total of 1.21 billion liters of fuel products last year, a 27 percent decline from 2020’s 1.66 billion liters. Equivalent pricing went up 32 percent to $580.14 million from $439.4 million.
From the total fuel sent outside the country last year, 1.11 billion liters are finished products and the remaining 100 million liters are crude.
To date, the country only has one remaining refinery, Petron’s 180,000 barrels per day facility in Bataan.
At present, the DOE mandates oil companies and bulk suppliers to maintain a minimum inventory equivalent to 15 days for finished products and 7 days for liquefied petroleum gas. For refiners, a minimum inventory of 30 days for both crude oil and finished products is required. -J. Macapagal
