TO CUSHION OIL PRICE HIKE IMPACT

DOE's Cusi wants to expedite implementation of strategic oil reserve plan, says exec

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has a marching order to expedite the implementation of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) strategic petroleum reserve plan — the government’s oil buffer stock — to cushion the impact of price hikes in the domestic market.

In an interview on Dobol B TV on Saturday, DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau Director Rino Abad said Cusi discussed the strategic petroleum reserve plan during an emergency meeting with oil companies.

“Napag-usapan ang strategic petroleum reserve. Pinapamadali na ‘yan ni Secretary [Cusi],” Abad said.

(The strategic petroleum reserve was discussed. Secretary Cusi wants that implemented soon.)

The DOE official said the strategic petroleum reserve plan will be implemented in two phases — short-term and long-term.

Abad said under the short-term plan, the government will lease available spare capacity from the existing storage tank of oil companies.

The government will also contract an oil company to handle its orders for buffer stocking.

“The long-term plan is for the PNOC [Philippine National Oil Company] to build its own storage tank,” Abad said.

Cusi, on Wednesday, reiterated the DOE’s plan to establish the country’s strategic petroleum inventory as domestic petroleum prices have been consistently going up since the year started due to supply disruptions as well the ongoing tension between Ukraine and Russia. 

Abad said the strategic oil reserves of the government, once triggered, will be released to the public at a much lower price than the market’s actual price since the government does not aim to profit from its sale. —KG, GMA News