Southeast Asian nations will launch a joint scheme to stockpile oil products as early as 2027, allowing member states to share fuel supplies during emergencies, Japan’s Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.
Storage sites are planned in Indonesia and Thailand. The scheme will initially enable the Philippines to buy diesel and gasoline stored in the two countries when a crisis disrupts supplies. Companies affiliated with the Philippine state oil firm PNOC are expected to sign letters of intent with tank operators in Indonesia and Thailand on Saturday.
The arrangement will use a “ticket” system, under which participating countries or companies pay a fee in advance for the right to buy a set volume of oil products stored by another country’s companies during an emergency. A similar system is already used in the European Union.
The initiative is led by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), an international think tank established in Indonesia by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Laos and Timor-Leste are also considering joining, and the scheme could eventually be expanded across ASEAN and extended to crude oil, according to the report.
Japan is promoting the scheme to strengthen regional energy security after disruptions caused by the war in Iran. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to announce cooperation on joint oil stockpiling at an Asia Zero Emission Community summit in Manila on 17 November.
The move comes as energy markets remain unsettled by the conflict in the Middle East. Tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have come under repeated attack, and Iran has exported no crude oil since August, leaving Asian refiners exposed to any further disruption of supplies through the region’s busiest shipping lanes. A shared stockpile would give Southeast Asia’s fuel-importing economies a buffer they have so far lacked.
The details reported so far rest on the Nikkei’s account, as relayed by Reuters, and no ASEAN government or ERIA statement confirming the timetable had been published at the time of writing.
Sources: Reuters, “ASEAN to launch joint oil product stockpiling scheme as early as 2027, Nikkei reports”, 12 November 2026 — https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/asean-launch-joint-oil-product-stockpiling-scheme-early-2027-nikkei-reports-2026-11-12/
