MANILA: A fresh round of talks between Iran and the Philippines has kicked off over signing a long-term agreement for daily sales of 130 thousand crude oil barrels.
Following the signing of the first contract with Pertamina Company of Indonesia for a sing-cargo crude sale, the Philippines, as the second most populous country in Southeast Asia, has also voiced readiness to purchase crude oil from Iran.
Accordingly, upon inking a cooperation agreement between National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) and Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) within the framework of an international consortium, the Philippian side has launched talks for oil imports from Iran. Pedro Aquino, PNOC CEO has stated that his company had been a consumer of Iranian crude in the past adding “currently, we are mulling over resumption of oil purchase from Iran.”
“The Philippines will play a constructive role in the future contract in view of Iran’s strategy to build up its oil export figures,” he continued.
Aquino emphasized that besides oil purchase, PNOC was after partnership and investment in upstream oil sector of the Iranian industry asserting “buying oil and investment remain as two main axes of collaboration between Iran and the Philippines.”
He recalled that Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) was planning to construct a refinery with a capacity of 400 thousand barrels per day underlined that the feedstock for the complex could be supplied by oil giants like NIOC.
“China’s Sinopec has undertaken construction of the 400-barrel refinery,” stressed the Philippian official maintaining that “Russia’s Rusneft has agreed to supply 4 million oil barrels while talks are underway with Britain’s Royal Dutch Shell over another four million barrels.”
The official expressed hope that agreements would be reached with National Iranian Oil Company over buying four million barrels of crude oil per month equal to about 130 thousand barrels per day.
Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) has recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) for implementation of developmental plans as well as to increase recovery factor of oilfield in the form of a consortium comprising 11 European, Canadian, Asian companies in addition to Sharif University of Technology.
