FPIC proposes spur line for NAIA jet fuel supply

BATANGAS CITY, Batangas, Philippines — First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) is proposing to construct a spur line that would directly supply jet fuel to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

In a press briefing here, FPIC senior vice president Ireneo Raule Jr. said they expect to start the project within the next 18 months.

He said they have already proposed the project to the management of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and the Joint Oil Companies Avfuel Storage Plant (JOCASP), which consists of Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Chevron Philippines and Exxon Mobil.

Raule said the 500-meter pipeline project, estimated to cost $1 million, will benefit the JOCASP members and the consumers themselves.

He said JOCASP was given a concession by MIAA [Manila International Airport Authority] to supply jet fuel for the airport up to 2026. Jet fuel from Shell and Chevron come from their refinery in Batangas and depot in Batangas, respectively, and goes all the way to Pandacan before it is hauled to the airport.

He said the project will lower the distribution expense and reduce the risk factors in transporting jet fuel.

“The JOCASP project is simply to build a spur line that will connect to the white oil pipeline (WOPL); it’s only 500 meters or less than one kilometer. So you avoid the hauling of products from Pandacan. MIAA is very much in favor of it and is ready to endorse it to JOCASP,” he said.

The FPIC official said they still have to convince Petron to use the line. Petron delivers jet fuel from its Limay, Bataan refinery to Pandacan and then to NAIA.

“So if we can entice them to deliver their jet fuel to Batangas either through Shell or Chevron and then deliver to the pipeline and then to the spur line at a price and other incentives attractive to them, then maybe they should be able to pipe that,” Raule said.

He said they are currently drawing up a scheme to convince Petron to join the two other oil firms in using the spur line.

“So we’re doing and preparing that right now. We’re doing financial models to see how we can charge them, but within the year we will be proposing that. In terms of construction it will only take a year to construct that,” he added.

The project, he said, would also help the government in addressing the issue of jet fuel supply.

“For MIAA, they will be able to raise the airport’s storage capacity to the international standard of seven days. Seven days of fuel is equivalent to 1.5 days,” he said.

FPIC presently supplies 60 percent of the petroleum needs of Metro Manila and nearby provinces. It delivers the equivalent of 800 to 1,000 trucks daily. It also lessens pollution from fuel efficiency 11 times more efficient than trucks.

“We can further reduce traffic congestion, pollution and safety risks posed by the hauling trucks transporting the fuel,” Raule said.