Jakarta. ASEAN has agreed to begin sharing fuel as soon as possible amid the energy crisis, but the Philippines, the bloc’s chair, admitted that there was still so much work to be done before actual transfers could happen.

The 11-strong group has just wrapped up its leaders’ talks in Cebu on Friday. The club adopted a leaders’ statement which sums up their plan to respond to the damage that the Iran war had dealt to global energy supplies. High up on the agenda was activating the ASEAN Framework on Petroleum Security (APSA). This agreement would enable Southeast Asian nations to supply petroleum to other members facing fuel shortages.

According to the 9-point document, ASEAN urged the “expeditious ratification of the APSA to ensure its earliest possible entry into force”. Members agreed to take steps to operationalize the decades-old pact “on a voluntary and commercial basis”.

Speaking to reporters in Cebu, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono described the APSA as something that the group “must implement”, as ASEAN had “somewhat let its guard down after the Covid-19 pandemic”.

“This has been a lesson that we must not heavily rely on energy imports. With the potential of each member state, all of us agreed on our ability to reach self-sufficiency,” Sugiono said.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told a live-broadcast press briefing that members had not decided on a specific timetable or the operational details. This includes where the members would store the fuel, payments, and the pecking order of who gets the petroleum first. 

“The principle was immediately unanimously agreed upon, but how do we do it? Is it going to be in one single place or scattered [across] the whole ASEAN? How do we share the [reserves]?” Marcos said.

However, Marcos remained “very optimistic” that this program would go live.

“We will not be wasting time with bureaucratic nonsense or arguing politics. ... We will be really working very hard to get it done as quickly as possible, in the best possible way.”

Yose Rizal Damuri, the executive director of the economic think-tank CSIS, had previously told the Jakarta Globe that it would be “more effective” for ASEAN members to bring in their external partners to get the engine started.

“The idea is feasible, but ASEAN nations tend to avoid making their contributions. It’d be more effective if it involved other partners, … so it will motivate the ASEAN nations to do their part,” Yose said.

Countries across the world are trying to counter energy shocks from Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has blocked the vital oil choke point in response to US-Israel's airstrikes in late February.

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