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Friday, March 29, 2024

Net oil imports of PH plunged 49% to $2.8b in first half

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Net oil imports of the Philippines plummeted 49 percent in the first six months to $2.837 billion from $5.568 billion in the same period last year on lower demand and prices, the Department of Energy said Thursday.

Data from the DOE showed that total crude and product imports reached 67.078 million barrels in the first half at a cost of $3 billion, down from 85.422 million barrels costing $5.98 billion a year earlier.

World oil prices based on the Mean of Platts Singapore, the benchmark used by oil refiners, plunged 45 percent for gasoline and 31.5 percent for diesel in April.

Petroleum export earnings reached 6.187 million barrels in the six-month period worth $244.8 million, compared to 6.645 million barrels worth $414.7 million a year ago.

Net oil import reached 60.896 million barrels in the first half this year from 78.777 million barrels in the same period last year.

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The DOE said first-half demand of petroleum products reached 10.794 billion liters, down by 22.8 percent from 13.978 billion liters last year.

“This can be translated to an average daily requirement of 59.3 million liters compared with last year’s level of 77.2 ML. The decrease is attributed to reduced economic activity due to lockdown and travel restrictions because of the pandemic,” the department said.

Diesel oil and gasoline demand decreased by 21.3 and 20.2 percent, respectively compared to 2019 figures.

Demand of avturbo dropped 40.8 percent, while demand for kerosene, fuel oil and LPG also went down by 29.3, 24.1 and 4.6 percent, respectively.

The country’s petroleum inventory as of end-June represented 21.8 days of supply, or equivalent to 974 million liters. Finished products reflected 39.3 days of supply. Total crude oil and finished products had 61.2 days of supply.

Refiners are required to have a minimum inventory of 30-day supply of crude oil and finished product while bulk oil suppliers and LPG importers without refining capacity are expected to maintain 15-day supply of finished products and 7 days of LPG.

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