2015 oil import bill down 41%

The Philippines spent less on oil imports last year compared to the previous year because of low prices despite higher demand, according to Department of Energy data.

In a report, the DOE said the country’s total oil import bill in 2015 reached $8.074 billion, down by 40.9 percent from the $13.668 billion in 2014. This was attributed to lower import cost (for both crude and petroleum products) although import volume increased.

The total oil import cost was made up of 57.1 percent finished products and 42.9 percent crude oil. Total imports of crude oil hit $3.463 billion, down by 44.3 percent from $6.221 billion of 2014, as CIF price per barrel dropped from $95.69./bbl in 2014 to $53.154/bbl.

The country’s petroleum export receipt for the period fell by 29 percent to $878.7 million from $1.237 billion.

As such, the country’s 2015 net oil import bill reached $7.195 billion. This was down by 42.1 percent from $12.430 billion in 2014 due to cheaper price per barrel of crude and petroleum products (about 45.0 percent) compared with the previous year.

Petroleum product imports in 2015 reached 76,780 million barrels (MB), up by 10.2 percent from 69,658 MB at end year 2014. This was attributed to the increased import volume of naphtha and condensate, which was used as raw materials for petrochemical production and as replacement fuel for natural gas due to scheduled maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas facility in summer 2015, respectively.

Between 2014 and 2015 levels, naphtha and condensate imports more than doubled. The growth in the country’s total oil demand was attributed to the entry of additional new players, mostly direct importers and end users plus the increase in utilization of registered end-users (e.g. naphtha of JG Summit and condensate products of First Gas Power).

Fuel oil imports also increased by about 98 percent. This was due to decreased local production volume of fuel oil since one of the local refiners no longer produced fuel oil as finished products.  Hence, other fuel oil requirements of the industry were augmented through imports. On the other hand, kerosene/avturbo and diesel oil imports were down by 15.8 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.  The reason may be due to the soft operation of the newly expanded refinery that produces more white products.

The other industry players accounted for the majority of the product imports or 74.3 percent of the total imports volume, up by 49.9 percent to 57,046 MB from 38,062 MB in 2014.

The so-called oil majors (Petron, Chevron and Pilipinas Shell) accounted for the remaining 25.7 percent, down by 37.5 percent from 31,596 MB in 2014 to 19,734 MB due to high production volume during the period.

The local refiners (Petron and Pilipinas Shell) accounted for 13.8 percent of the total product imports, which included blending stocks, as against 86.2 percent share by direct importers.

The product import mix is composed mainly of diesel oil at 37 percent, unleaded gasoline at 19.8 percent, fuel oil at 12.6 percent, LPG at 12.6 percent, naphtha at 8.7 percent, kerosene/avturbo at 7.7 percent, naphtha at 7.6 percent, condensate at 2.1 percent and other products at 0.5 percent share in the total product mix.