Energy chief to discuss rollbacks with oil firms anew

MANILA, Philippines - Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes will again meet with stakeholders from major oil companies Tuesday to discuss the remaining amount that oil firms needs to return to their customers following the continued drop in the prices of crude in the world market. This was after Reyes continues to express dissatisfaction over the P5 per liter rollback on gasoline and P2 per liter on diesel recently implemented by major oil companies. “Were calling oil players both major and small players and different stake holders and see to it that the public's interest, consumer welfare is in fact protected in the pricing,” Reyes said Monday. Reyes however refused to give the exact amount as to how much the slash in oil prices should be. Secretary Ralph Recto of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) said oil companies still owes the public at least P8 to P9. Petron Corporation, Pilipinas Shell and Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex) rolled back the prices of their gasoline by P5 per liter and P2 per liter for diesel early Saturday morning. But independent oil companies like Unioil Petroleum Philippines last Wednesday rolled back the prices of its gasoline by P6 per liter and P4 per liter for diesel. Eastern Petroleum, another small player, slashed its prices by P3 per liter for gasoline. Asked why small oil companies are able to cut their prices ahead than the major oil firms, Reyes explained independent oil firms are direct importers and their inventory only last between ten to fourteen days which gives them room to recover immediately. Reyes said unlike small oil players, major companies could not immediately implement rollbacks because their inventories are between 40 to 60 days. Monitoring conducted by the DoE indicated that as of Nov. 22, prices of gasoline ranged between P34 to P41 per liter while diesel stands at P34 to P43 per liter. - GMANews.TV