Downstream Oil Industry According to REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8180(AN ACT DEREGULATING THE DOWNSTREAM OIL INDUSTRY, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES) ; Downstream oil industry shall refer to the business of importing exporting, re-exporting, shipping, transporting, processing, refining, storing, distribution, marketing and/or selling, crude oil, gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene, and other petroleum and crude oil productsThe Philippines downstream oil industry had been deregulated since1998 and is currently dominated by two (2) major oil refining and marketing companies; Petron and Pilipinas Shell. A third oil refiner and marketer, Caltex Philippines Inc. converted its 86,500 bbl/d refinery into an import terminal in 2003 and now operates as a plain marketing and distributing company under the name “Chevron”, but maintains its Caltex brand.
Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), a state-owned company, and Saudi Aramco jointly own Petron; each with a 40 percent stake while the public holds the remaining 20 percent share.Petron operates an 180,000 bbl/d refinery and over 1,200 gasoline stations nationwide; Pilipinas Shell has a 110,000 bbl/d refinery and about 800 gasoline stations; and Caltex/Chevron has 2 import terminals, and around 850 retail gas stations nationwide. Caltex built the first petroleum refinery in 1954. Followed by Stanvac in 1960, with the construction of what is now the biggest oil refinery in the country –the Bataan Refining Corporation.
Shell Refinery started operations in July 1962 while a local player, Filoil Refinery, began operations in September 1962.Currently there are 3,472 registered gasoline dispensing stations, 182 LPG refilling plants, 28. 30 MB of storage capacity and 16. 62 MMB depots (import and export terminals).
A 135 km white-oil and 100 km black-oil pipelines are used to transport oil from the refineries in Batangas to Manila and vice versa. •Regulatory Framework Republic Act No. 8479 which was signed in February 1998 defined the regulatory framework for the downstream oil industry, based primarily on the guiding principle of a truly competitive market under a regime of fair rices, adequate supply of environmentally clean and high quality petroleum products. •Environmental issues The oil and gas industry will confront two major environmental issues in the coming decade-the prospect of policies to combat climate change and constrained access to oil and gas reserves. These issues have the potential to affect companies’ sales, operating costs, asset values, and shareholder value.
Across the industry, we find that companies’ shareholder value could fall by between 1 and 6 percent if investors were to account for these environmental risks.In some scenarios, companies could gain if natural gas prices rise and if permits to emit greenhouse gases are grandfathered to companies. Although these issues prove to be financially significant and a source of competitive advantage within the industry, it is not clear that investors currently take account of them. Although much of the world depends on the production or the trade of oil to fuel its economies, these activities can cause severe damage to the environment, either knowingly or unintentionally.
Oil production, and/or transportation, can disrupt the human population and the animal and fish life of the region. Oil waste dumping, production pollution, and spills wreak havoc on the surrounding wildlife and habitat. It threatens the extinction of several plants, and has already harmed many land, air, and sea animal and plant species. The effects of oil on marine life are cause by either the physical nature of the oil (physical contamination and smothering) or by its chemical components (toxic effects and accumulation leading to tainting).Marine life may also be affected by clean-up operations or indirectly through physical damage to the habitats in which plants and animals live.
The animals and plants most at risk are those that could come into contact with a contaminated sea surface: marine animals and reptiles; birds that feed by diving or form flocks on the sea; marine life on shorelines; and animals and plants in agriculture facilities.
