Oil imports surged 34.4 percent in the first six months, on the back of higher shipments and value of crude oil and finished products in the world market, data from the Energy Department show.
The country’s total oil import bill reached $6.311 billion in January to June, up from $4.695 billion recorded in the same period last year.
“This was attributed to the combined effects of higher import cost and increased import volume of crude oil vis-à-vis last year,” the DoE said.
About 53.8 percent of the total oil import bill involved finished products and 46.2 percent crude oil.
Imported crude oil increased 54 percent in the six-month period to $2.915.1 billion from $1.892 billion in the first half of 2017. This was due to higher cost, insurance and freight price per barrel which went up to $69.827 this year from $52.559 a barrel last year.
Product import cost went up 21.2 percent to $3.396 billion at an average CIF cost of $74.812 per barrel from $2.802 billion at an average CIF cost of $57.962 per barrel in the same period last year.
The department traced the increase to “higher import cost this year and an increase in the volume of total imports.”
Average dollar rate in the first half also rose to P51.974 from P49.928 a year ago.
Total crude oil import reached 41,747 million barrels in the first six months, an increase of 15.9 percent from 36,016 MB in the same period last year.
About 90 percent of the total crude mix was sourced from the Middle East, of which 37.7 percent came from Saudi Arabia, the top supplier of crude oil into the country.
Kuwait came next with a 24.6-percent share, followed by the UAE, Qatar, and Oman.
Meanwhile, the country’s net oil import bill amounted to $5.678 billion in the first half, up 32.8 percent from $4.277 billion in the same period last year. The net oil import bill is the difference between imports and exports of oil products.
Petroleum exports climbed 51.5 percent to $633.1 million in the first half from $417.8 million in the same period last year.
National demand for petroleum products totaled 83,621 MB in the first half, up 1.6 percent from 82,277 MB a year earlier.
“This can be translated into an average daily requirement of 462 MB compared with last year’s level of 454.6 MB,” the agency said.
Diesel oil demand was up by 50 percent while demand for LPG and gasoline increased by 10.6 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.