Pilipinas Shell says 'exerting all efforts' to rehire workers affected by refinery closure

MANILA - Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp said Friday it is "exerting all efforts" to reemploy 200 regular workers affected by the shutdown of its Tabangao refinery in Batangas.

About 200 of its staff in the Batangas refinery will be "impacted," Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp vice president for external and government relations Serge Bernal told Teleradyo.

The refinery will be transformed to an import facility which will need workers, he said.

"There are jobs that will also be offered...We are exerting all efforts to accommodate and reemploy as much as we can ," Bernal said.

"Doon sa maapektuhan na staff namin (those affected staff), as much as we can we will try to reemploy them in other businesses that we have in the Philippines," he added.

Pilipinas Shell earlier said it would shut down its refinery for good as it was no longer economically viable to operate the facility. It will transform it into an import facility, it said.

• Pilipinas Shell to shut Batangas refinery permanently as pandemic bites

Bernal assured the public that there would be "no supply disruptions" even if the refinery closes down. When asked if the move will affect pricing, Bernal said it is entirely dependent on supply and demand, with or without the refinery.

Petroleum demand declined by 20 to 30 percent in March and by as much as 6o to 70 percent in April during the enhanced community quarantine, Pilipinas Shell said, citing data from the Department of Energy.

The Tabangao refinery is one of only two in the country. The other one is the 180,000 barrel-per-day Bataan facility owned by Petron Corp.