Oil firms cut prices by 50¢

MANILA, Philippines - Oil companies rolled back yesterday the prices of petroleum products by 50 centavos per liter.

Petron, Chevron, Phoenix and Seaoil announced that they reduced the prices of petroleum products effective 12 a.m. Tuesday to reflect the international oil prices in the domestic market.

Department of Energy (DOE) director Zenaida Monsada said the agency does not see any discrepancy on price adjustments being made by the oil firms.

She said the proper authorities would address the claim of transport groups of overpricing by the oil companies.

“It’s hard to comment since we don’t know the basis of what they (transport groups) are saying. So what we can say is that, we can invite them to file a case with the DOE-DOJ (Department of Justice) Task Force,” she said.

“With the weekly movements since 2009, the adjustments made by the oil companies have been close to or attuned with the movements of world oil prices,” she said. 

Monsada said any complaints on the prices should be subjected to due process.

“If they are asking for an P8 rollback, that’s not reasonable. They should file it with the task force and follow the process provided for by the Oil Deregulation Act,” she said.

The DOE official said if the rates are based on 2009 prices, the P8 per liter overpricing, as claimed by transport groups, seems to be higher than the benchmarks. “But again we don’t know their reference, particularly to time,” she said.

“Because of deregulation, there is no exact formula to determine the right price. But we monitor the movements in the world oil market and see if the oil companies’ movements are consistent,” she added.

Monsada said transport groups have the right to cease their operations.

“But before doing so, they need to assess their plans first before acting on it,” she said.