Borrowing a Neighbour’s Tank: The Philippines Seeks Emergency Oil Access in Indonesia and Thailand

Countries that import almost all of their fuel tend to think about energy security in terms of ships and prices. The Philippines is now adding a third word: neighbours.

On Saturday in Manila, PNOC Exploration, part of the state-owned Philippine National Oil Company group, signed letters of intent with storage tank operators from Indonesia and Thailand. The aim is to explore arrangements under which the Philippines could draw on stocks of petroleum products held in those countries during an emergency.

Letters of intent are a first step, not a contract, and no volumes or prices have been made public. But the logic is easy to follow. Building and filling strategic reserves at home is expensive and slow, and an archipelago of thousands of islands is especially exposed when supply routes are disrupted. Sharing access to tanks already standing in the region is a cheaper way to buy time in a crisis.

The timing also speaks for itself. With tension around the Strait of Hormuz and tankers being hit at sea, Southeast Asian governments have been reminded how quickly a distant conflict can reach their petrol stations. A regional safety net, even a modest one, could become a template for wider ASEAN cooperation on fuel.