Oil imports double in 2021

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine’s net oil imports rebounded last year, nearly double the 2020 bill to reach pre-pandemic levels on fuel demand recovery and high crude prices.

The net import bill or the difference between oil imports and exports amounted to $11.15 billion last year, up 87.9 percent from $5.93 billion a year ago, DOE data showed.

Last year’s net import bill nearly matched the 2019 level of $11.06 billion.

The total oil import bill amounted to $11.73 billion, 78.5 percent higher than the previous year’s $6.37 billion. It also closely matched the $11.84 billion import bill value in 2019.

The country saw a rebound in fuel demand last year compared to 2020, which was the height of lockdowns due to the COVID pandemic, DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) director Rino Abad said.

In terms of volume, total imports rose by 8.3 percent to 23.42 billion liters.

While fuel demand rose year-on-year, total import volume was still almost half of the 45.42 million volume in 2019. This was because crude prices were more expensive last year versus 2019.

Of the total imports, 79.8 percent consisted of finished products and 20.2 percent crude oil. This was a reverse from pre-pandemic levels, wherein the country imported more crude oil (60.6 percent) than petroleum products (39.4 percent).

Government data showed total crude imports amounted to $2.25 billion, up 53 percent from $1.47 billion a year earlier.

But in terms of volume, imported crude oil slipped by nine percent from 5.24 billion liters to 4.72 billion liters.

Meanwhile, imported petroleum products rose 22.8 percent to 14.92 billion barrels. In value, it jumped 77.7 percent from $3.57 billion to $6.35 billion.

On the other hand, the Philippines’ export earnings amounted to $580.14 million last year, up 32 percent from $439.4 million.

DOE data showed total petroleum product exports declined by 27.1 percent to 1.21 billion liters.

The country imported 100 million liters of crude, or 8.26 percent of the total, and 1.11 billion liters of petroleum products, accounting for 91.74 percent.

Abad earlier said the higher finished product and lower crude oil export could be attributed to the shutdown of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.’s (PSPC) refinery in Batangas.

PSPC decided to permanently shut down its Tabangao refinery in August 2020 but transformed it into an import terminal to cut back operational costs and continue to provide sustainable energy to the country despite the challenging conditions posed by the pandemic.

The country’s remaining refinery is Petron Corp.’s facility in Bataan, which was re-operated in June last year after being shut down for several months due to maintenance activities and challenging refining margins.