The shutdown for scheduled maintenance that started on May 5 was also intended to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus-driven collapse in fuel demand and poor refining margins.

Operations at the country's two oil refineries had stopped, with the other facility - Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp's 110,000-bpd Tabangao - now permanently halting operations after declaring the refinery was longer economically viable.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Ed Davies)