Petron buys 2.48-M barrels of Russian oil, may buy more

Petron Corp. has confirmed its purchase of about 2.48 million barrels of crude oil from Russia and indicated it may purchase more if the crisis in the Middle East continues to choke off the Philippines' traditional supply routes.

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In a disclosure, the country's sole refiner said it lost access to four million barrels of Middle East crude in the span of eight days after the US-Israel war on Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, forcing it to turn to Moscow as an emergency measure and last resort.

The Russian crude, together with other supplies Petron has secured, will keep its refinery running through June, according to the filing on Monday, March 30.

The company controls 30% of the Philippine fuel market and operates the only oil refinery in the country. The Philippines sources roughly 98% of its crude from the Middle East, a dependence that until last month had not been tested at this scale.

"The procurement of Russian crude oil is not part of the Corporation's business-as-usual sourcing strategy, and the purchases were undertaken strictly out of extreme necessity as an extraordinary emergency measure," Petron said. The company added that it acted "only after exhausting all commercially and operationally viable alternatives."

FROM SHIPPING REPORTS TO FORMAL DISCLOSURE

The disclosure comes after weeks of partial confirmations and hedged statements about what exactly Petron had purchase and how much oil it had bought from Russia.