US-Venezuela tension won’t affect PH oil price —DOE

The tension between the United States and Venezuela won’t affect the prices of oil in the Philippines, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Tuesday. 

DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau director Rino Abad explained that the Latin American country’s oil exportation is only less than 1% of the global supply. Hence, the current crisis won’t affect the global oil supply. 

“Matagal na hong nasa-sanction ang Venezuela pero ang ine-export nila, around September, November, ay umaabot ng mga one million barrels per day. So yan po ay less than 1% ng global supply,” said Abad in an interview in “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.” 

(Venezuela has been under sanctions for a long time, but what they export—around September and November—reaches about one million barrels per day. So that is less than 1% of the global supply.) 

“So kung makakaapekto ba ‘yan? Isa ba ‘yang mabigat na supply disruption? Hindi ho. At pangalawang aspeto, sino ba ang bumibili lang ho diyan? Ang bumibili lang ho niyan ay almost China lang,” he added. 

(So will that have an effect? Is that a heavy supply disruption? No. And for the second aspect, who are the only ones buying from there? Almost only China is buying from them.) 

Further, the DOE official noted that the Philippines does not even import oil from Venezuela. 

“Siguro, at most ang magiging effect kung mayroon man ay yung temporary na pag-increase because of the speculation…Pero dahil may speculative nature yung price, baka mag-increase lang ang price temporarily,” said Abad.

(Perhaps, at most, the effect—if there is any—would be a temporary increase because of speculation... But because the price has a speculative nature, the price might only increase temporarily.) 

“But since hindi fundamental ang disruption na effect, baka wala ho talagang major impact ito sa global market lalo na sa Pilipinas dahil hindi tayo nagi-import sa Venezuela.” 

(But since the resulting disruption is not fundamental, there might not actually be a major impact on the global market, especially in the Philippines, because we do not import from Venezuela.) 

US President Donald Trump earlier said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were arrested and transported to the United States following a military operation. 

Maduro currently faces several federal charges, including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism. But he has dismissed these accusations, claiming that the legal actions are a cover for a U.S. plan to seize possession of Venezuela's oil resources. —VAL, GMA Integrated NEws