The Department of Energy (DOE) has made arrangements with major oil companies to increase the frequency of deliveries of gasoline and diesel fuels to Bohol Province starting Dec. 29 to address the high demand due to the increased use of generator sets amid the power black-out in the province brought by the heavy damage on the power facilities after Typhoon "Odette" (International name: Rai).    

According to Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) Director Rino Abad in a virtual press conference, Petron, Shell, and Philoil have agreed to fast track the deliveries of their liquid fuels products to Bohol from every 10 days to 5 days.

Caltex, on the other hand, has arranged with Lite Shipping RORO vessels to augment the transport of their liquid fuel from Cebu.

Meanwhile, Seaoil that mainly supplies liquid fuels to independent gasoline stations in Bohol, has agreed to deploy their fuel storage barge in Bohol with a capacity of 2 million liters to provide for current high fuel requirements in the province.

The fuel barge can store both one million liters of gasoline and one million liters of diesel in separate chambers. 

Seaoil is currently doing the assessment of various available seaports in Bohol that can accommodate the fuel barge.   

The DOE-Visayas Field Office has deployed its personnel since last week to conduct continuous monitoring and inspection of gasoline stations in Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Negros, and Southern Leyte to address fuel supply problems and prevent hoarding and overpricing fuel products. (DOE-VFO PR)