MANILA, Philippines — The country’s net oil import rose by nearly a third in 2017 due to higher volume and import cost, Department of Energy (DOE) data showed.
The net import bill, or the difference between oil imports and exports, amounted to $8.92 billion last year, up 29.5 percent from $6.89 billion in 2016, the DOE said.
Total oil import bill amounted to $9.89 billion, a 31.2 percent increase from the previous year’s $7.54 billion. “This was attributed to the combined effects of higher import cost and higher volume of product imports vis-à-vis last year,” the DOE said.
Of the total imports, 59.5 percent consists of finished products, while 40.5 percent is crude oil.
Data showed total product import cost for the period averaged $60.33 per barrel versus the average cost of $48.39 per barrel the previous year. Meanwhile, the peso was also generally weaker during the period at an average 50.83:$1 compared to an average rate of 48.59:$1 the previous year.
The country imported a total of 97.530 million barrels of petroleum in the first half, 11.8 percent more than the previous year’s 87.240 million barrels.
Meanwhile, imported crude oil reached 73.943 million barrels, a decrease of 6.1 percent from 78.782 million barrels the previous year.
About 90 percent of the imported crude oil is sourced from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia was the top supplier with 36.6 percent, followed by Kuwait with 30.2 percent and UAE with 17.6 percent.
The country also imported 6.9 percent from Russia, 1.4 percent from Australia and 2.2 percent from the ASEAN region.
On the other hand, the Philippines’ export earnings amounted to $972.5 million this year, up 48.6 percent from $654.4 million. This as the country’s total petroleum products export grew by 6.2 percent from 14.631 million barrels to 13.772 million barrels.
The total export mix comprised of condensate (24.6 percent); fuel oil (19.6 percent); pygas (12.5 percent); propylene (11.9 percent); naphtha (9.2 percent); mixed C4 (7.7 percent); mixed xylene (5.1 percent); gasoline (4.1 percent); toluene (2.7 percent); benzene (1.3 percent); reformate (0.9 percent); and LPG (0.5 percent).