Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., now the leading player in the country’s oil industry, said it is pushing through with its planned price hike, although on a much lower scale, considering the drop in world crude oil prices.
"With the latest developments in the international market, we might impose an increase lower than the 96 centavos per liter we announced earlier," said Reynaldo Gamboa, Pilipinas Shell vice president.
Perez requested the so-called "Big 3" oil firms — Shell, Petron and Caltex — to hold off plans to raise prices this month and claimed he was made to believe that they would heed his call.
Shell’s announcement proved otherwise, though.
Under the country’s deregulated market, oil companies are allowed to raise or roll back their prices without seeking approval from government regulators. But the Department of Energy said it just wants to review the basis of the price increases.
A new DOE circular dated May 25 mandates oil firms to inform the government of any price adjustment a day before its effectivity.
Shell initially announced plans to raise its pump prices by 96 centavos per liter in a price hike that would be implemented in four stages. In effect, the company would be raising its rates by an average of 25 centavos each week.
But Gamboa said they opted to wait for the average rate of the Dubai crude for the month of June before increasing prices. He noted that two weeks ago, the average price of Dubai crude was placed at about $27 a barrel, but late last week it went down to about $26.
"If (world) prices remain steady, we will be adjusting downward our target price hike," he said.
Gamboa revealed, though, that the four-stage price hike would still push through.
"The staggered price hike would lessen the impact on the economy," he said.