Friday, July 25, 2008 Prices of LPG to increase further
THE Department of Energy (DOE) has theorized that the prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which is widely used in the households will increase further because this is also sourced from the oil in the Middle East along with diesel and gasoline.
Director Zenaida Monsado said the high demand of LPG will also be a factor.
Monsado was informed by Cebu consumers during a recent energy consultation on the Philippine Energy Program that before more than 5,000 units of taxis in Cebu were converted from gasoline-fed to LPG-fed, Shellane, Gasul and other LPG product weighing 11 kilos was priced at P165 only.
But when the taxis, mostly owned by members of the Metro Cebu Taxi Operators Association, were converted to LPG starting in 2004, the prices of Shellane and Gasul skyrocketed to P700.
Monsado said that what the government is pushing for at present is the compressed natural gas (CNG) from Palawan for cooking and for public transport.
She said the government is now implementing the Natural Gas for Public Transport (NGPT) program on 200 buses which will be refueled in Batangas where there’s a CNG station.
Monsado said the price of CNG is at P14.52 per liter which was fixed at the time that the diesel was still priced at P28 per liter. At present, diesel is more than P60 per liter.
“The price of CNG can be controlled in the country because the company that produces it is partly owned by the government. If the operational cost will go up, the government can reduce its share to maintain or bring down prices,” Monsado said.
Cleaner fuel
She said that if the LPG prices will go up, the government can do nothing about it because this is part of the petroleum products.
Monsado said it is not only the taxi operators who are interested in shifting to LPG especially that the world recognizes it is a cleaner fuel.
“So it’s better that our dependence shall not be on LPG but on CNG, an indigenous source which is owned by the country, locally sourced, and can be controlled by the government,” Monsado said.
Earlier, Chairman Thompson Lantion of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), said that the government is allocating about P1 billion for the conversion of public utility vehicles throughout the country to LPG and CNG.
Lantion said the intention of the government is to reduce the number of passenger buses and jeepneys which are dependent on the high-priced gasoline and diesel. (EOB)
