00:03Drivers at this Manila gas station fill up, at a premium price. Prices around the world have jumped,
00:09with the critical Strait of Hormuz blocked off amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
00:13The Philippines' official government news agency predicted Monday that gas prices could
00:17break US$1.50 per liter this week. And so the Philippines is looking elsewhere for fuel. It's
00:24working on agreements with countries like Indonesia and China, and it might even start
00:28importing Russian oil too, as the U.S. eases sanctions on it. The details aren't in yet,
00:35but this and a possible temporary lifting of gas taxes may help Filipinos weather a time of
00:40instability. And the government says it's working to keep supplies stable. The most important for
00:46today is we have supply. We have supply, so there is no need to cause panic among our people.
00:55Japan is moving to keep the oil flowing too, from storage tanks like these ones in the southern
01:00city of Kagoshima. Japan's been preparing for a moment like this since the oil shocks of the 1970s,
01:06when it started a national reserve. Tokyo says it's releasing 80 million barrels, a record amount,
01:12and enough to keep the country running for around 45 days. That's on top of a release of 15 days'
01:19worth
01:19of private sector oil on Monday. And more will be on the way, with the government expected to release
01:24an additional month's supply at the end of March. It's not just oil supplies the Middle East War has
01:30choked off. In Taiwan, natural gas has been a particular concern. This footage, released by state
01:37refiner CPC, is meant to calm nerves. It shows an LNG ship able to carry up to 83,000 metric
01:44tons,
01:45docking in Kaohsiung last Friday. The gas onboard should keep natural gas plants running at full
01:50capacity for a week to 10 days. Reuters also reports that CPC has bought jet fuel for April,
01:57in the low US$30 per barrel, a premium price. The Economy Ministry says all natural gas shipments
02:04for March and April are secure. And the fact that only a third of Taiwan's natural gas comes from
02:09Qatar, cut off inside the Hormuz Strait, means there are alternatives should the crisis in the Middle
02:14East continue. Still, some analysts say that March and April are one thing, but meeting peak demand in the
02:21summertime is the thing to watch out for. With no signs of the war in the Middle East winding down,
02:35the International Energy Agency, or IEA, plans to dig further into its emergency supplies.
02:41Even if the war ended today, the agency says, getting the global energy trade back to normal
02:47would take time. And so, after a historic recommendation to release 400 million barrels
02:53of oil last week, the agency is saying further releases are still feasible.
02:57Despite this huge release, we still have a lot of stocks left. This current stock release,
03:05once it is completed, will reduce the emergency stocks in IEA countries only by around 20%.
03:15For now at least, stockpiles saved up for a crisis just like this are holding. But until the war in
03:21the Middle East ends, or Iran changes its strategy, key sources of oil and gas are cut off for the
03:27foreseeable future. Joseph Wu and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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