Who’s the product owner if diesel shipment to Manila “was procured from Vitol but sourced from Malaysia”?

 

UMNO renegade-turned-staunch Madani critic Isham Jalil who has been sought by the police for stirring up the so-called “329K barrels diesel export controversy” to the Philippines has turned the table on the Madani government by claiming that the “diesel originated from the Pengerang refinery (in Johor)”.

On this note, the former UMNO supreme council member who has been heavily bombarded for making unfounded accusation has demanded the Madani government to answer two questions:

• Who approved foreign company Vitol to take tens of millions litres of diesel oil produced in Malaysia to be sold to the Philippines through a foreign private contract at a time when the pump price of diesel is at an all-time high of RM6.72/litre?
• When the minister said our country has become a net importer of crude oil, does this include the crude oil that we import not for our own use but to be processed and sent for use in other countries (as in the above case)?

Interestingly, Isham’s claim was backed by a clarification by the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) undersecretary Sharon S. Garin that although the shipment was procured from Singapore-based trader Vitol Asia Pte Ltd, the diesel was sourced from Malaysia according to its Certificate of Origin (CO).

Editor’s Note: A CO is a vital international trade document certifying that goods in a shipment are wholly obtained, produced or manufactured in a particular country.

Among others, it acts as a “nationality” document for goods, used by customs to determine duties, apply preferential tariffs and enforce trade regulations.

“Based on the CO, the petroleum products were sourced from Malaysia and loaded onto the vessel MT Maritime Guardian on April 4 with delivery to PCSPC* in Subic Bay Freeport Zone,” Garin penned in a Facebook post.

“In total, the (Philippine) government purchased 329,000 barrels or approximately 52.31 million litres of diesel to help augment the country’s fuel supply.”

* Philippine Coastal Storage and Pipeline Corporation (the largest fuel storage company in the Philippines)

Noteworthy is that Isham’s latest statement came on the back of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim urging for an end to the diesel supply controversy while reiterating that the company supplying the fuel to Manila is not national oil corporation PETRONAS but Vitol.

“They (Vitol) do have an agreement to transport oil and sell it to the Philippines. It is not us (PETRONAS) supplying it to the Philippines,” he spoke at a Madani gathering with Terengganu tahfiz students at Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Yayasan Terengganu in Kuala Terengganu yesterday (April 13).

“But we are not stopping it. We are giving passage. The oil belongs to parties under foreign agreements. I hope this controversy will stop and that focus is given to developing the country amid the current challenging economic conditions.”

Also feeling vindicated with Garin’s latest clarification is the Terengganu State Agriculture EXCO Datuk Dr Azman Ibrahim who like Isham was accused of spinning the diesel supply controversy to undermine the Madani government.

“When PMX mentioned in his speech that Vitol received approval, it meant that the export of diesel from Pengerang to other countries required approval from government authorities,” argued the Jabi state assemblyman who is also a Central PAS committee member.

This situation also makes us understand that the crude oil brought in from the Middle East for processing in Pengerang is not only for domestic use but also for the export market.

One question is whether all the oil processed in Pengerang are from the Middle East or are there also locally produced oil? –  Focus Malaysia