Metro Manila, Philippines – Consumers would remain absorbing the high cost of fuel even beyond the Middle East conflict because of damaged infrastructure from the source, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said.
Garin shared this assessment at the briefing by the government’s economic team at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, April 8, on the response to the Middle East crisis.
“Twenty percent (of the world’s oil supply) is from the Middle East, 80 percent from the rest of the world. If the war stops today, will the 20 percent be able to deliver? I think it will take some months because most of the infrastructure, especially the LNG (liquefied natural gas) has been destroyed,” Garin said.
“If it ever goes back to ₱100 or below, it will take some time,” she added.
The International Air Transport Association said even jet fuel will remain costly because of the conflict’s impact on refineries, even if the Strait of Hormuz – a critical chokepoint for global crude supply – reopens, according to a Reuters report.
US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he agreed with a two-week ceasefire with Iran, which would temporarily reopen the key waterway.
Garin said high fuel costs may “stay longer than the war itself,” adding that fuel may even hit as high as ₱200 per liter.
“I don’t know and I don’t think anybody knows yet because like mentioned earlier, there was a pronouncement of a ceasefire but there are threats going back and forth. Whenever there’s an oil infrastructure destroyed in any country, the price spikes. Then babagsak na naman [then it will fall again] and then suddenly something else happens,” she said.
Brian Poe, FPJ Bayanihan representative, said he talked to some drivers who said they would quit if fuel surges to ₱200 per liter.
“This is a stern warning to all of us na [that] we need to revisit our deregulation law. Because we cannot wait until that crisis occurs and suddenly wala na tayong [we have no more] riders,” he said.
