RP willing to pursue talks on regional oil stockpile

The Philippines is still willing to pursue talks on the proposed regional oil stockpile amid the continuing volatility of global crude prices, the country’s top energy official said.

In an interview during the 8th ASCOPE Conference and Exhibition, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said the regional oil stockpile is one of the possible topics that would be discussed by the region’s energy leaders during the conference.

Lotilla said President Arroyo has actually directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to take a closer look at this proposal.

"On the regional stockpile, in order to ensure security of supply in the region, President Arroyo wants that to actually move," he said.

The energy chief said this is the opportune time to discuss the proposal with his counterparts in the region.

"Of course, prices are how stabilizing, if not going down. Then, now is a good opportunity to talk about stockpiling," he said.

He acknowledged that there have been some initiatives on the possible setting up of a commercial stockpile in Subic although he pointed out that there are no firm commitments yet on any form of stockpiling system in the country.

"For Subic, it’s a commercial stockpile where private sector or interested investors who want to use the area for stockpiling are welcome to do so," he said.

ASCOPE was established in 1975 in Jakarta, Indonesia by founding members: Indonesia (Pertamina), Thailand (PTT), Philippines (PNOC), Singapore (SPC), and Malaysia (Petronas). Since then, membership has grown to include the following four countries: Brunei Darussalam (Petroleum Unit, PM Dept.), Vietnam (PetroVietnam), Myanmar (MOGE), and Cambodia (CNPA).

Talks on a regional commercial stockpile were revived in 2002 when the DOE and some Middle Eastern countries tried to explore the possibility of using Subic Bay as their regional oil storage facility.

Based on the concept, rather than sending very large crude carrier or ultra large crude carriers, they can instead unload them in Subic Bay and bring them down into small carriers that can enter smaller ports.

The idea will be good for the Philippines and would not pose any problem in terms of national security for the country.

But the talks did not prosper as the government tried to work out possible conflict with the existing tenant in the proposed area.

The proposal again cropped up during the 8th International Energy Forum (IEF) three years ago in Osaka, Japan which was attended by at least 60 oil energy ministers from around the world.