A legislator on Monday slammed the Department of Energy for acting at a “seemingly snail’s pace’ on its long-planned national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) to ensure an adequate inventory of fuel in the domestic market.
Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte made the statement as global oil supply hitches have led to the 8th upward weekly adjustment this year alone in the local pump prices of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products.
‘It’s rather disgusting that years after the SPR has been considered by the government as an option, the best that energy officials can say at this time of skyrocketing fuel prices is that they are set to study it,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte said he, for years now, has been prodding the energy department to put up such a national oil reserve to shield Filipino consumers from unabated price surges.
Fuel prices are expected to continue going up as the international benchmark Brent crude rose to $93 per barrel last week and Dubai crude—the reference for pricing in Asian markets—settled at $91.
Villafuerte’s statement came as Rodela Romero, director of the DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau, told a public briefing at the Palace last week that her office had proposed the crafting of a law that will grant DOE the power to put up an SPR, either for commercial or for strategic reasons to address supply disruptions.
According to Romero, the DOE is reviewing new terms of reference (TOR) for a rebidding for the procurement of a consultancy service that will conduct the study.
“The DOE is not even doing the study yet; it is still at the stage of preparing to conduct such a study. So when do we expect the SPR to be up and running when the DOE is merely posed to conduct a study at this point? There is no sense of urgency here,” Villafuerte said.