Petron corporate communications executive director Antonio Pelayo said they are still monitoring movements in Dubai crude prices and the peso-dollar exchange rate.
"Yes, we continue to suffer from underrecoveries, but Petron has no immediate plans to increase prices. It’s too early to even make an estimate," Pelayo said.
Even the Department of Energy (DOE) agreed that there is no reason to adjust prices at the moment.
"We just had a price increase the other week. Any new price adjustment would be premature," Energy Undersecretary Cyril del Callar said.
The country’s oil companies recently raised local pump prices by an average P1.65 per liter, implementing it in two stages: 45 centavos on Sept. 12 and P1.20 on Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, Dubai crude oil prices have remained at $29-$30 per barrel since late September. The average price of the crude this month is $29.79, although it closed at $29.95 last Oct. 11.
The September average crude oil price ex-Dubai was placed at $29.27 per barrel while the August average was $27.
Twice this month, crude oil closed at over $30 per barrel, but reached levels of $32-$33 per barrel, which are all-time highs for peace-time crude prices in Dubai.
Prices rose from $11.48 per barrel in March 1998 to a high of $13.10 in September of the same year. By February 1999, Dubai crude was selling at $10.02, which would turn out to be the lowest for the next two years.
By September 1999, the crude was being traded at $21.90, and reached $23.65 by the end of the year.
In February of this year, Dubai was selling at $24.63 per barrel.
But what continues to bother the oil executives and government officials is the way the peso has been faring against the US dollar, the trading currency used in the world oil market.
"What worries us is not the world prices of oil but the way the peso has been moving against the dollar," Del Callar said.
From P40.43 to the dollar in January, the local currency depreciated to P45.78 in September. And from Oct. 2-11, the average value of the peso slipped further to P47.27 to the dollar.