US opens bidding for military oil depot in Davao region
The United States military is planning to build an oil depot on the coast of Davao Gulf as part of its growing chain of forward-based refueling hubs in the Western Pacific, according to the US Department of Defense.
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) published on its website on March 31, a solicitation, or a formal request for Washington-based contractors to bid on a Defense Fuel Support Point (DFSP) project “along the western coast of the Davao Gulf to include Davao City, Davao Del Sur and Malalag Bay.”
Filipino security analyst Chester Cabalza noted that the planned DFSP would be close to the strategic Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea.
“The strategic consideration of a forward-based refueling hub in the Gulf of Davao thru the US Defense Fuel Support Point is a tactical realignment and quick access to the Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea which are vital transient routes for commercial and military vessels,” Cabalza, president of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told the Inquirer on Friday.
Storage capacity
According to a 15-page performance work statement of the project, the DFSP requires a storage capacity of 977,000 barrels for US-government-owned fuel for its warships and aircraft within a four-year period.
“The DLA Energy requires DFSP services in the Davao, Philippines, area for contract services and ancillary facilities for receiving, storing, protecting, and shipping US Government-owned fuel, Naval Distillate Grade F-76 and Turbine Fuel, Aviation Grade JP-5,” the project’s description stated on the DLA website.
The DLA said it would accept bid offers from US-based contractors until June 29.
Asked to react to the planned DFSP, Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said on Friday that he would defer comment until details were finalized.
‘We welcome these’
Trinidad brushed off concerns that the US oil depot could be a magnet for attacks, pointing out that it would serve as a deterrence instead.
“The greater risk is to have no deterrence at all,” Trinidad said. “So, we welcome these facilities.”
Cabalza also said: “While critics see the facilities for possible attack due to the power contestation of China and the US, Washington offers a new clean slate after the energy insecurity in the region caused by the US-Iran war.”
According to a report of the US Naval Institute news service, the plans for the DFSP project came alongside upcoming sites in Australia and Papua New Guinea as part of Washington’s growing network of forward-base refueling hubs in the Western Pacific.
The Philippines is part of the “first island chain,” which experts view as the first line of defense of the United States against China’s expansion in the Indo Pacific.
Mutual defense pact
Since 1951, Manila and Washington have been bound by the Mutual Defense Treaty, which commit both sides to come each other’s defense in the event of an armed attack.
The 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) between Manila and Washington allows the rotational deployment of American troops in designated Philippine military bases and other facilities. It has been criticized as a US military bases agreement that sidestepped Senate approval required by the Constitution.
A US-funded fuel depot, which can hold 40,000 liters of fuel, was built in 2023 at the Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu, one of the nine Edca sites in the country.
Edca terms
The US government spent $2 million to build two storage tanks that will “enhance the ability of Philippine aircraft” to refuel, according to then US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson.
Article III, Section 1 of the Edca accord states that the Philippines “authorizes and agrees” that the United States military and its contractors may conduct, among others, “refueling of aircraft” and “prepositioning of equipment, supplies, and materiel” at the agreed sites.
Article IV, Section 4, gives US forces and contractors “unimpeded access to Agreed Locations for all matters relating to the prepositioning and storage of defense equipment, supplies, and materiel, including delivery, management, inspection, use, maintenance, and removal of such equipment, supplies and materiel.” —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
