CAGAYAN DE ORO—Oil refiner Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is optimistic the completion of its $80-million North Mindanao Import Facility will help lower fuel costs in Mindanao and Visayas.
Shell formally inaugurated the NMIF, a fuel import and storage facility with a capacity of 90 million liters in the port of Cagayan de Oro on Tuesday.
“It should [lower oil prices],” Shell country chairman Ed Chua said, adding the facility would reduce freight cost and delivery time to Mindanao and Visayas consumers.
“With this facility, [products] directly delivered to Cagayan de Oro and Cagayan de Oro is really a very strategic location to deliver to Visayas and Mindanao. Lower cost and less double handling,” Chua said.
The NMIF was constructed and commissioned in partnership with the Philippine Ports Authority.
Shell built the facility primarily to ensure energy security for the country, especially for the millions of residents, motorists and consumers in Mindanao and Visayas.
The facility’s proximity to these areas will provide a more reliable secondary supply and distribution hub after Shell Tabango’s facility in Batangas.
Chua said the facility would allow Shell to increase the volume of petroleum products sold at lower cost.
“At the minimum, this facility will also allow us to grow with the market,” Chua added.
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, in a statement delivered by Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos, welcomed the completion of the facility.
Cusi said NMIF had evolved into an import terminal for gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas products with a total storage capacity of 688.26 thousand barrels.
Only 38,600 barrels of various petroleum products could be stored in the facility prior to the new depot.
“Thus, I commend Pilipinas Shell for this feat of building its largest terminal outside Luzon to serve Mindanao’s 62.46 thousand barrels per calendar day demand and the Visayas’ 49.88 MBCD oil demand,” Cusi said.
He said total petroleum demand for Mindanao now stood at 16 percent, while Visayas accounted for 13 percent.
“That’s why this investment will not only augment Mindanao’s energy supply, but also provide more employment and livelihood opportunities for the people here,” he said.
The NMIF expansion includes 10 additional horizontal tanks and three vertical tanks storing gasoline, diesel, coco-methyl ester and ethanol.
“With this bigger facility, there is ample space for receiving medium-range vessels within PPA’s premises with the availability of new cargo lines ensuring safe and efficient receiving and loading operations,” Cusi said.