A Philippine delegation pursued a partnership with the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) state-owned energy corporation on Thursday, seeking to develop a strategic oil storage facility that could strengthen national energy security and position Manila as a regional oil hub. For a country that depends on foreign crude and fuel, added storage acts as a physical buffer between overseas supply and domestic demand — the underlying rationale for a dedicated hub.

The proposed partnership with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) would anchor broader energy cooperation spanning crude supply, refinery investment, fuel retail networks, renewable energy, and gas-to-power development, Senator Erwin T. Tulfo said in a statement on Sunday. That five-area scope frames the storage facility as the entry point to a wider bilateral energy agenda rather than a standalone project.

Mr. Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate Energy Committee, led the Philippine delegation during the bilateral discussions with the UAE. He was joined by Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Alfonso Ferdinand A. Ver and Special Envoy to the UAE for Trade and Investment Kathryna Yu-Pimentel.

According to Mr. Tulfo, ADNOC Chairman Sultan Ahmed-Al Jaber, who led the UAE side, expressed willingness to partner with Manila, noting that the oil hub would boost supply volume given that ADNOC already supplies Petron with approximately 40,000 barrels per day. That existing arrangement gives ADNOC a commercial foothold in the Philippine market ahead of any formal deal.

The discussions identified the second quarter of 2027 as the partnership's rollout target, subject to further agreement on the site, infrastructure responsibilities, commercial terms, and the implementation schedule — leaving the timeline conditional on negotiations still to come.

The potential pathway toward a broader Philippines-UAE energy partnership has yet to be finalized, the senator added, vowing to oversee subsequent meetings to complete the agreement. How those follow-up sessions settle the outstanding site, infrastructure, and commercial questions will determine whether the proposal advances from stated intent to binding terms.

ADNOC, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, is one of the world's largest energy producers, and the UAE is a leading member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The Philippines, for its part, relies largely on imported crude oil and petroleum products to meet domestic demand, a dependency that has long made storage capacity and diversified supply central to the country's energy security policy. Petron is one of the Philippines' largest oil refiners and fuel retailers. Regional hub status would, by definition, put such a facility to work beyond the domestic market alone.

— Report by Francessca S. Abalos, originally published by BusinessWorld: PHL seeks oil hub deal with UAE