Oil refinery production in the country fell by 66.9% to 1,284 million liters (ML) in the first half of this year from 3,878 ML in the same period last year, based on data from the Department of Energy (DOE).
This came following the closure of Shell’s Tabangao refinery in Batangas City in August 2020 and the suspension of the Petron Bataan refinery’s operations from February to May this year.
When broken down by product type, fuel oil had the biggest decline at 94.7%, followed by diesel oil (68.1%), avturbo (66.1%), gasoline (63.6%), liquefied petroleum gas (59.2%), and kerosene (44.7%). Production of other fuels, such as naphtha, asphalts, petrochemical products, and petcock went down by 53.1%.
The Bataan refinery, which reopened in June, is the country’s only remaining facility of its kind. Shell, meanwhile, completed the conversion of the Tabangao refinery into an import terminal in June. Caltex, the former third-largest oil player, also closed its refinery in Batangas in 2003.
