DOE chief wants more transparent oil prices

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE), seeking ways to make fuel costs more transparent to the public, plans to make prices in every gasoline station, even in the provinces, detailed in its website.

“I have seen some websites that actually show you the trend of oil prices. We can extract that and put it there. We can do that,” said Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.

To date, benchmark prices like the Mean of Platts Singapore are available only through paid subscription.

“Probably, what we can do also is monitor prices in the provinces so we know the disparity of their prices in Metro Manila,” Petilla said.

He said the DOE can publish oil prices per area and for every gasoline station. Consumers are informed of weekly price adjustments every Monday based on trading prices the previous week.

At the launching of the Philippine Energy Plan 2012-2030, Petilla said transparency is needed to enable decisions and implementation to be done according to established rules and regulations.

“This will also ensure that adequate and reliable information are directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions,” he said.

“The energy industry is a complex industry but there is a way to laymanize things,” Petilla said, adding that making terms understandable for the public can increase transparency.

Since the start of the year, the net increase for gasoline hit 91 centavos per liter while diesel posted a net decrease of P1.53 per liter, DOE data showed.

“But I am not too worried about oil prices because it is market driven,” Petilla said.

Factors affecting prices are competitive pressures or the number of oil companies in an area, fuel quality and location of the service stations.

For instance, fuel sold in economic zones is not subject to the 12-percent value-added tax.

Under Republic Act 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, oil firms can set the prices of petroleum products based on market forces to encourage competition.

The deregulation law also prohibits the government from intervening or influencing the pricing schemes of the oil companies.