PH oil import bill hits over $5B in H1

THE country’s net oil import bill reached 2018, 19.5 percent higher than a year ago, data by the Department of Energy (DoE) showed.

Figures showed the net oil import bill, or the difference between oil imports and exports, amounted to $ 5.6 billion in the first six months of the year from $4.7 billion in the same period a year ago.

In 2017, the country’s full-year net oil import bill amounted to $8.9 billion, up by 29.5 percent from $6.89 billion in 2016.

“This was attributed to the combined effects of higher import cost and higher volume of product imports vis- à- vis last year,” the department said in its Oil Supply/ Demand Report for 2017 released earlier this year.

The country imported a total of 86.4 million barrels of petroleum valued at $6.2 billion, while it exported a total of 8 million barrels of crude valued at $6.3 billion in the first six months of the year.

Sought for comment, DoE’s Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) director Rino Abad attributed the higher net oil import bill to the government’s Build, Build, Build program and the “more ac-

tive economy," specifically from the industries that utilize oil. Meanwhile, as of first quarter

this year, Petron Corp. retained the top spot in terms of market share with 27.6 percent, followed by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. with 19.98 percent.

Phoenix Petroleum and Chevron took the third and fourth spots with 7.12 percent and seven percent, respectively.

Other players hold a market share of 38.3 percent while end users have the other 7.8 percent.