Oil firm to ask Philippine agency to stick to Euro IV’s original schedule

Oil firms, such as Chevron Philippines, said they will ask the Philippine government to stick to its original plan to implement the Euro IV standard in January 2016. Last week, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) announced that Euro IV will be implemented on 1 July 2015.

“There is no major problem. It is just a matter of timing, changing a supply chain and making it happen,” said Peter Morris, Chevron Philippines Inc. country chairman.

Chevron, which shut down its Batangas refinery several years ago instead of investing in upgrading the refinery to be Euro IV compliant, imports its entire fuel supply. “It takes us a couple of months if we need to replenish our supply chain,” Morris said, who added that the company holds about three months’ worth of stocks.

“We are in favor of the January implementation because that’s what the industry has been planning for,” he said.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said he could not give an explanation why DENR decided to implement Euro IV ahead of schedule.

“The original is actually 2016 and I don’t know why they will implement it earlier,” Petilla said.

PTT Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Sukanya Seriyothin said its parent’s refineries in Thailand are already producing Euro IV fuels.

“It’s not a problem for us,” said Seriyothin who said PTT would import about 200,000 barrels per month of Euro IV-compliant fuels from Thailand.

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