Chevron Philippines Inc., the local subsidiary of American energy giant Chevron Corporation, has signed a diesel supply deal with Aboitiz Power Corporation for the latter's power generation plants.

Ronaldo S. Ramos, president and chief operating officer of the Oil Business Unit of Aboitiz Power, indicated that with the company’s fuel procurement from Chevron, “we look forward to operational efficiency and worry-free operations so that we can keep supplying much needed power to keep the lights on in many Filipino households.”

Aboitiz Power has diversified assets in its power generation portfolio, including those fueled with oil, coal as well as renewable energy facilities which are in the genre of hydro, solar and geothermal technologies.

The parties have not divulged the volume, as well as the cost and the schedules of delivery of the procured fuel supply.

Emmanuel Lopez, senior vice president of AboitizPower’s Coal Business Unit, asserted that their company leans on the fuel delivery of Chevron “to support our operations as we continue to provide the country with reliable, sufficient, and cost-effective power supply.”

By far, Aboitiz Power narrated that its partnership with Chevron is already a tested one, because the American energy firm also provided fuel for the start-up of their Therma Visayas Inc. plant in Toledo, Cebu – that was when it had to be synchronized back to the grid after it was walloped by typhoon Odette last December.

Relative to the recently sealed fuel supply pact, Chevron Philippines Chairman Billy Liu noted that “our number one goal now is to keep AP’s equipment running and electricity flowing at their thermal plants so they can continue to provide for the energy needs of the nation.”

Energy sector players as well as leaders of the government typically spew out big words about decarbonization goals in line with the Paris Agreement, but for a country starving on its electricity supply, the continued operations of fossil fuel-fed power facilities would remain an inescapable reality.

Sustainability has also become a catchphrase for many companies in the Philippines, but realities on the ground as well as the acts of corporations evince that this is more of a pretense at this point.

The oil-fired generating facilities, in particular, are mostly relied upon by the power system when there is tightness of supply – which is unfortunately a phenomenon that may torment Luzon grid for several years from now.