Closure of LPG plant in Batangas may raise fuel prices, solons warn

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The closure of a liquefied gas petroleum facility in Batangas may raise fuel prices, lawmakers warned Tuesday.

LPG Marketers Association (LPGMA) Partylist Representative Arnel Ty said on that the closure of the Tabangao plant would cut the LPG supply in the south.

This would mean the supply for the south would have to be sourced from the north, an additional cost in logistics that would be imposed on consumers, Ty added.

Shell Philippines had announced that they would decommission the 30-year-old LPG facility in Batangas, which supplies 65 percent of Luzon’s LPG supply.

Manila Rep. Rosenda Ocampo hit Shell Philippines for just closing down the facility without consideration for the consumers.

“How can you justify the closure of your plant and leave the consumers to fend for themselves?” she said.

For his part, Shell Philippines vice president for communications Roberto Kanapi said they decommissioned the plant as it would take huge costs to upgrade the decades-old facility.

“We just decommissioned it because it would take substantial costs to upgrade it,” Kanapi said.