Philippines to probe oil smuggling

The Philippine House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy will investigate the reported smuggling of refined petroleum products in the country’s various ports. Smuggling operations, the government said, have deprived it of some Php2.2 million (US$46,018) in daily revenues and up to Php16 billion per year. According to officials, there have been reports of oil smuggling in the Subic Freeport and the Manila Port Area. To counter oil smuggling, the government implemented a fuel marking system in the ports of Subic Bay, Batangas, and at the Clark Special Economic Zone. The Societe de General Surveillance (SGS) was tapped to provide the technology for the fuel marking scheme. Two big oil companies, media reports said, had also hired a private investigation agency to look into the rampant smuggling of fuel at the Subic Freeport and the unloading of smuggled fuel off Bataan in the northern island group of Luzon. (April 6, 2009)