New shipment of 142,000 barrels of diesel good for less than a day

2026-03-27 - 11:00

In a bid to assure the public that fuel supplies are coming to beef up the Philippines’ 45-day inventory (as of March 20), the Department of Energy (DOE) proudly announced the arrival on Thursday, March 26, of around 22.5 million liters or 142,000 barrels of diesel that would add to the country’s supply. “Andito na (It’s here)! Government-procured diesel has arrived in Luzon. This is the first delivery and there will be more deliveries in the coming days or weeks,” said Energy Secretary Sharon Garin on her Facebook page that was reposted by the DOE, complete with a photo of the vessel docked at a port. “We’ve been working on this for three weeks, so to me, it looks like the most beautiful ship ever,” she said. The DOE said this was the first shipment under the government’s Emergency Energy Security Program meant to improve supply. It cited the work of state-owned Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and PNOC Exploration Corporation in negotiating for 1 million barrels of oil. In a post on Friday, March 27, Garin said this was the result of the work of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Petron Corporation CEO Ramon Ang on “making things happen” to “protect our country.” Also on Friday, Marcos elaborated on his talks with Ang, and said that the country’s crude oil supply would now last until June 30, 2026, which means a total of 95 days from today. How he arrived at that figure, perhaps only he and Ang know, but if correct, it extends fuel supply by 50 days. You see, earlier this week, Marcos and Garin said the country’s average fuel inventory was 45 days, broken down into the following: 53 days for gasoline, 45 days for diesel, 97 days for kerosene, 38 days for jet fuel, 61 days for fuel oil, 23 days for LPG. (See table below.) Image from Department of Energy presentation on March 24, 2026. Rappler checked these figures that have been announced and compared them with the Philippines’ consumption of diesel, based on the DOE’s Petroleum Product Demand by Industry per Trade and per Sector for Fiscal Year 2024. (See table below from DOE website.) DOE data show a combined diesel demand of 73,703,700 barrels in 2024. This is the annual demand for diesel of transport, industrial/commercial, agriculture, power generation, government, and foreign embassies. Dividing that figure by 365 days in a year translates to daily demand of 201,927 barrels of diesel. So, while the 142,000 barrels of diesel for the first shipment that arrived Thursday may sound big, it’s actually not enough to meet even a day’s demand recorded in 2024. Rappler consulted its resident economist, JC Punongbayan, who writes a weekly column, and he agreed with the assessment that this new delivery of diesel was for just “less than a day.” This bit of information, however, the government apparently did not disclose in their press releases and official statements on Thursday and Friday. Must Read [In This Economy] Beware of populist measures to address the oil price shock Annual petroleum demand Let’s go to annual petroleum demand, not just diesel. The government says PNOC is procuring one million barrels of petroleum. Presumably, this is for any kind of fuel that’s available given tight global supplies. Again, one million barrels sounds a lot, but what’s the Philippines’ annual petroleum demand in 2024? It was 184,514,810 barrels (184.5 million) of petroleum combined (gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, fuel oil, LPG, etc.). Divide this by 365 days means a daily demand of 505,520 barrels per day. So, 1 million barrels is good for just two days. The DOE uses a different figure for computing demand, which is “average daily demand from April to September 2025” so it came up with a different figure. In her press conference on March 24, Garin admitted that the 1 million barrels is “good enough for a week.” Nonetheless, she said even if it’s just for a day or two, it’s still an “important addition.” So, how much would 1 million barrels add to the petroleum being imported by all companies operating in the country? According to petroleum companies, they are assured of supply only until April 30. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess, they told the Senate PROTECT committee on Thursday. Must Read Petroleum companies sound alarm on Philippines’ limited fuel supply So, if we add an additional week of PNOC’s procurement to April 30, that brings us to May 7. Which begs the question: how did President Marcos and Ang come up with an inventory of until June 30? If it’s a wrong calculation, then perhaps, the government should clarify it once and for all in the interest of transparency so that the public can plan better. Already, the number of gas stations temporarily closing due to lack of fuel has risen to 425 as of March 27, from 387 on Thursday, out of 14,485 stations the Philippine National Police (PNP) is monitoring. Expect more in the coming weeks — and start planning for life without fuel if the war in the Middle East doesn’t end soon. – Rappler.com