Philippine lauded for Asean oil stockpiling push

SINGAPORE — The Marcos administration earns an International Energy Agency (IEA) nod for steering Southeast Asia’s push to build regional oil reserves.

“I commend the Philippine government for paying attention to this,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said yesterday on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week.

Birol stressed the importance of oil stockpiles in helping countries weather supply disruptions, particularly as geopolitical tensions escalate in the Middle East.

“We are in the middle of the rainy days today in the world, and I hope it doesn’t rain even more than this. It’s getting a bit more difficult to manage,” he said.

The push for regional oil reserves has been a key highlight of the Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship this year, gaining urgency as the global oil crisis erupted in late February.

Heightened geopolitical tensions led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that typically handles roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.

Before the crisis, the IEA said about 60 percent of Southeast Asia’s crude oil imports and a third of its gas imports came from the Middle East.

“When I look at the situation now, I don’t see that the energy markets will go back to where they were before the war started,” Birol said.

“Countries need to redesign their energy strategies, give a close look at their energy partnerships, and maybe make some new decisions in terms of their fuel and technology choices.”

Beyond soaring energy prices, particularly for diesel, Birol also expressed concern about the oil crisis’s potential impact on food prices in the coming months.