Cagayan de Oro City – Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. inaugurated its North Mindanao Import Facility (NMIF) with a 90-million liter capacity able to provide Visayas and Mindanao’s demand.
Shell country manager Edgar Chua said the $80-million NMIF will be the petroleum firm’s secondary supply and distribution hub next to its Tabangao refinery in Batangas. It is also the first Shell terminal in the country able to receive a medium-range (MR) vessel.
Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos said that Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi sees the Cagayan De Oro facility will serve the Mindanao region’s demand of 62.46 thousand barrels per calendar day (MBCD) and Visayas’ 48.88 MBCD demand for oil.
“The total petroleum demand for Mindanao now stands at 16%, while Visayas accounts for 13%. That’s why this investment will not only augment Mindanao’s energy supply, but also provide more employment and livelihood opportunities for the people here,” he said.
The recent investment s in line with the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 which aims to aims to promote development and upgrade the downstream infrastructure, and to update the country’s oil-supply contingency plan through the establishment of oil stockpile.
“Without the NMIF, imports have to be through large ships and only Tabangao refinery in Batangas can receive that. We would need to bring supply in through the refinery and distribute it to Visayas and Mindanao,” Chua said.
“But with this facility, we can deliver supply straight to Cagayan de Oro, and CDO is really a strategic location to deliver to Visayas and [the rest of] Mindanao so that means lower costs, less double handling,” he added.
On June 10, the facility received approximately 25 million liters of automotive diesel oil which filled two of the four storage tanks.
The construction and operation of the NMIF is one of the petroleum firm’s response to the increasing energy and demand supply in the country. This includes building smarter infrastructure, smarter products and cleaner energy, as well as promoting emerging energy sources.