Shell Philippines Advances 61 Million Liter Fuel Terminal in Cebu

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On August 25, Shell Pilipinas Corporation advanced the construction of a new fuel import terminal in Cebu province, Philippines. Located in Naga City, Cebu, the project will become the 5th import facility in Shell Pilipinas' supply network in the Philippines upon completion, with a focus on enhancing the receiving, storage, and distribution capabilities for fuel and other energy products in the Visayas region. The project is being implemented with the participation of Therma Cebu Energy Inc. (TCEI).

This project is not a simple expansion of Shell's existing Cebu depot, but rather the construction of new fuel storage and handling infrastructure within the Naga power plant complex. TCEI was established in 2022, with Therma Power, Inc. (TPI) and Sta. Cruz Storage Corporation (SCSC) each holding 50% equity. The two parties signed a joint venture agreement in 2023 to build and operate the fuel storage facility. This also marks AboitizPower's first foray into the fuel storage and terminal sector.

D.M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI) is involved in the project's engineering and construction. According to DMCI's latest project data, the Cebu tank project will build fuel storage tanks with a total capacity of 61.40 million liters, approximately 61.4 million liters, along with a 1.70 million liter fire water tank, non-process buildings, and berthing facilities. The project is classified as a fuel depot and terminal facility. The construction site is further specified as the Colon area of Naga City.

This scale indicates that the project not only handles onshore fuel storage but also includes vessel berthing and imported fuel unloading functions. Once operational, the project will be able to receive fuel from domestic and international sources in the Philippines and organize subsequent distribution to the Visayas market through Cebu. SCSC's parent company's latest business materials describe it as an approximately 61 million liter fuel depot, with the current target completion time adjusted to the first half of 2027. Compared to the "completion in 2026" previously listed in DMCI's materials, the latest public schedule shows that the project construction timeline has been delayed.

The Cebu project is part of Shell Pilipinas' continued expansion of its import supply chain into the central and southern Philippines. The company has previously established import terminal systems in Batangas, Subic, and Cagayan de Oro, with Batangas having a refined products storage capacity of approximately 263 million liters, Subic approximately 80 million liters, and Cagayan de Oro approximately 94 million liters; subsequently, the Darong import terminal with a rated capacity of 67 million liters was built to cover the southern Mindanao market. Once the 5th import terminal in Cebu becomes operational, it will add a direct import and storage-distribution node for the Visayas region between the existing Luzon and Mindanao terminals.

Shell had already included the Cebu import terminal in its supply chain expansion plans as early as 2023, with operations initially scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2025. The project subsequently entered the substantive construction phase and remained under construction as of the end of February 2026. This update indicates that the project has progressed from the early contract and planning stage to the construction stage of storage tanks, supporting buildings, and berthing facilities, but the latest commercial operation milestone has been postponed to the first half of 2027.