Vera Files fact-checked President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement about how 80% of the oil supply in the Philippines comes from Saudi Arabia. However, they found out that the President got his figures wrong.
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During his official trip to the Middle East, the President visited Saudi Arabia and thanked the country for its contributions to the Filipinos in terms of jobs and oil supply.
On April 12, Duterte told the audience, composed of the members of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, that Saudi is the source of 80% of the Philippines’ oil supple.
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“We are happy that we have been invited to visit the Kingdom and to talk to you about business. You know, most of all, we would like to thank again your Kingdom for not forgetting us, and even in the matter of oil and energy, almost 80 percent from our use, comes from your country,” Duterte said.
Watch this specific part of his speech from 2:12 to 2:42.
Vera Files’ digging turned up this fact – 87% of the Philippines’ total crude oil supply came from the entire Middle East region in 2016, based on the Department of Energy’s data. The region is composed of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.
So, how much was actually sourced from Saudi Arabia? The Kingdom provided only 36.1% (28,438,000 barrels) of oil to the Philippines.
Duterte must have been confused over the figures from the entire region and the figures from Saudi Arabia.
You can see more of Vera Files’ fact checking below, along with a simplified infographics of the sources of oil supply in the Philippines.
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