In a speech at the 44th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) in Pasay City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, energy secretary Sharon Garin revealed that the country is in talks with the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Japan, Kuwait, Australia and the US to store oil in an effort to avoid fuel price strikes as a result of the Iran war.
Speaking to Reuters, Garin states that the Philippines plans to build its first government-owned storage tank next year at Bataan to hold strategic oil reserves, and that it has been working with Tokyo to build regional oil stockpiles. It currently has 1 million barrels of oil stocks in private facilities.
The country will also increase diesel and gas-fired power output to combat an estimated 60% decline in hydropower and 20% decline in solar output due to El Nino.
Garin comments: ‘If El Nino finishes in April, that’s the time that summer starts for us. So, this would be a prolonged pressure for us, which started with the oil crisis in the Middle East… We start with 1 million [barrels] and scale it up over the years with the objective of reaching 60 days… Our country needs to progress. And for you to be progressive, you have to have steady, secure energy. And sacrificing that just to transition, that would not help our country. We’re an archipelago, we cannot just have 5,000 megawatts of solar [on] a small island.’
