DoE to meet oil companies to determine how much more they should roll back

MANILA, Dec. 2 (PNA) — Not fully satisfied with the P5 per liter rollback on gasoline and P2 per liter on diesel implemented by major oil companies, the Department of Energy is calling again stakeholders to a meeting Tuesday.

Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes said the meeting among the stakeholders will primarily discuss the remaining amount that oil firms need to return to their customers following the continued drop in the prices of crude in the world market.

“We're calling oil players both major and small players and different stakeholders and see to it that the public's interest, consumer welfare is in fact protected in the pricing,” Reyes told reporters.

While he refused to give the exact amount as to how much more the oil companies should rollback, Reyes said “we are expecting more rollbacks”.

Secretary Ralph Recto of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said oil companies still owe 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 morning of Saturday.

But independent oil companies like Unioil Petroleum Philippines on Wednesday rolled back the prices of its gasoline by P6 per liter and P4 per liter for diesel while Eastern Petroleum 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 lasts between 10 to 14 days which gives them room to recover immediately.

Reyes said unlike small oil players, major companies are having difficulty to immediately implement rollbacks because their inventory was for 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 stood at P34 to P43 per liter.

With the P5 per liter reduction, gasoline prices will range P30 per liter to P39 per liter while diesel will be around P32 per liter to P40 per liter.