DOE exec: Brace for new fuel price hike this week

An official of the Department of Energy (DOE) said a fuel price hike looms this week due to the rising world prices of crude oil. Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug said the government can only ask oil firms to temper their price hikes. “So far ayon sa aming pag-monitor last week nakakalungkot pataas ang presyo ng gasolina sa international market. So this week ine-expect natin magtataas ang gasoline," he said in an interview on dwIZ radio. (Our monitoring last week shows another price hike in world oil prices. So we expect another fuel price hike this week.) He did not say how much the fuel price hike would be. Layug maintained the government cannot do anything about the price hike because the oil industry is deregulated. “Kinakausap namin ang oil companies kung pwede i-temper ang pagtaas. Pero di namin sila mapigilan dahil sa deregulated industry tayo ngayon," he said. (We are asking the oil companies to temper their price adjustments but we cannot stop them from hiking prices because the oil industry is deregulated.) Layug said world fuel prices went up by five percent in the last 10 days because the demand for diesel had gone up especially in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, North America and Europe. No supply shortage Layug said there is no supply shortage of fuel and oil companies have accommodated the DOE’s request to increase their inventory for the holidays. “Nagdagdag sila kaya wala dapat ikabahala ang ating kababayan (They have increased their inventory for the holidays so people need not worry)," he said. – VVP, GMANews.TV