Located far from the flashpoint reefs at the centre of Manila’s maritime dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea, the depot marks what one observer called a “more mature and more serious stage” in the US-Philippine alliance: a shift from base access and drills towards the grinding business of keeping forces fuelled, dispersed and in the field for the long haul.
The US Defence Logistics Agency published a solicitation on March 31, inviting US-based contractors to bid for a Defence Fuel Support Point along the western coast of the Davao Gulf, including Davao City, Davao del Sur and Malalag Bay.
According to a 15-page contract brief, the facility would hold about 977,000 barrels of US government-owned fuel for warships and aircraft over a four-year period, split between naval distillate F-76, used by surface vessels, and JP-5, a high-flashpoint jet fuel designed for use aboard aircraft carriers.
Bids will be accepted until June 29 and the project is slated for completion by 2028.
The Davao site will join a chain of forward refuelling hubs the US is building across the Western Pacific, alongside planned facilities in Darwin, Australia and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
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