MANILA - Pilipinas Shell will continue to provide oil and gas while it embarks on low carbon operations in line with the strategic directions of Royal Dutch Shell, its chief said Thursday.

Energy use "goes hand in hand with economic development" and the Philippines, a developing country, still needs traditional energy, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp president and CEO Cesar Romero told ANC.

"In the Philippines, because of our stage of development, we see that there is still some role for traditional oil and gas as the country progressively shifts towards more gas and ultimately to renewables," Romero said.

"The direction of Shell company in the Philippines is to continue supplying the energy that we need while continuing to position ourselves for the future which is more gas and more renewables," he added.

Parent Royal Dutch Shell earlier announced its plans to become carbon neutral by 2050.

In the Philippines, Shell is "embarking very hard on low carbon operations and introduction of low carbon products and services," he said.

"We remain very open to exploring opportunities in this field and in fact even up to now we are doing what we can to contribute to Royal Dutch, the mother company’s aspirations," he added.

Romero said Pilipinas Shell has the capacity to distribute energy in whatever form when needed in the future.

"If today it’s oil, then we provide oil, if in the future it could be in some other form, it could be electricity, hydrogen, our sites are actually future proof and could accommodate all those things because we have the tech know-how coming from Royal Dutch Shell," he said.

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Shell earlier announced the closure of its refinery in Batangas and the sale of its stake in the Malampaya gas field.

Shell's decision to close its refinery could not compete with the bigger competition in the region, Romero said.

Romero said Shell's sale of its Malampaya stake to Dennis Uy was not an "isolated case" where the buyer is a non-traditional oil and gas company.

Many companies globally are also undergoing portfolio rationalization in line with Royal Dutch Shell's strategy, he said.

• Pilipinas Shell to shut Batangas refinery permanently as pandemic bites
• Shell eyes sale of Malampaya stake as part of 'portfolio rationalization'

— with a report from Agence France-Presse