Shell opens Subic oil import facility in Philippines

Shell has opened an oil product import facility in Subic to strengthen its supply networks to the northern Philippines.

The Subic facility is Philipinas Shell's third Medium Range vessel-capable import terminal and can receive 54mn l (340,000 bl) of finished products in one shipment.

This import facility at Subic, northwest of the capital Manila, comes as the Philippines is relying more on product imports to meet domestic demand. The country is only left with one refinery, the 180,000 b/d Bataan operated by domestic private-sector firm Petron. Shell in August announced plans to shut its 110,000 b/d Tabangao refinery south of Manila, converting it into an import terminal because of regional oversupply and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The closure of Tabangao and extended refinery shutdowns has led to a rise in the Philippines' product imports in 2019 and this year. Imports in 2019 rose by 15.3pc from a year earlier to 310,000 b/d, according to government data.Diesel and gasoline made up the bulk, rising by 27pc to 135,000 b/d and by 17pc to 61,000 b/d respectively. The Philippines imported about 400,000 b/d of clean products during July-November this year against 350,000 b/d for the same period in 2019, with the majority of imports being diesel, according to Vortexa.

The country's diesel imports surged to an 11-month high of 15,400 b/d in August, the highest volume since September 2019, according to GTT data. It took 3,000 b/d of jet fuel in August, the highest monthly imports since the 7,700 b/d it took in February last year.

Aldric Chew, Jaslyn Ying, Sarah Giam and Yawen Lu