Inventory of oil products still healthy, says DOE
February 24, 2011
Inventory of oil products still healthy, says DOE
Oil firms say shipments arriving as scheduled
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Amy Remo
2/24/11
MANILA, Philippines—The country’s fuel inventory remains healthy, at levels equivalent to an average of 54 days’ worth of consumption, despite the unrest in oil-producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the Department of Energy.
Zenaida Y. Monsada, director of the DoE Oil Industry Management Bureau, said the average inventory of all petroleum products as of two weeks ago was well within the ideal level of about 50 to 60 days’ worth of fuel consumption.
The country’s total daily fuel consumption was placed at an average of 300,000 barrels.
In an interview, Monsada said she also received reports from local oil companies that imports continued to arrive and that there was no report of disruption in delivery.
She said local fuel supply was so far unaffected by the external threats and it would likely remain so if the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa would be contained soon.
Fernando Martinez, chairman of Eastern Petroleum Corp., backs the DOE’s report, reiterating that “we do not have supply disruption and we have a healthy inventory.”
Fears of supply disruptions stemmed from the demonstrations against autocratic regimes in Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Bahrain and Iran.
The DOE earlier assured the public that the country’s oil supply sources had not been affected by the current conditions in the Middle East and North Africa because the country was getting its crude mainly from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Iran.
Last year, the Middle East accounted for 81 percent of the country’s crude imports. About 12 percent came from Southeast Asian nations and 7 percent, from Russia.
Refined petroleum products came mostly from neighboring Asian countries, particularly Singapore, except for liquefied petroleum gas, which came mainly from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
However, prices may be further pushed up by the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as pump prices in the Philippines.
According to Monsada, prices were now being pushed up largely by fears of supply disruptions which had been driving traders to buy more than what they actually require.
The DOE report quoted Victor Shum, a senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy consultants in Singapore, as saying that “geopolitical tensions in the crude-rich Middle East keeps oil prices generally higher, as traders worry over the potential for supply disruption.”
On Tuesday, the DOE had released an Oil Contingency Plan to prepare the country for possible disruptions in oil supply in case the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa would continue.
According to the DOE, the plan is composed of three phases: predict, prepare, and perform. These three phases cover strategies ranging from the preparation to the actual response, should the problems in the Middle East and North Africa disrupt the flow supply into the country.