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Thursday, December 25, 2008
Small oil players cut oil prices
MANILA-- Independent oil players once again slashed the prices of their petroleum products as holiday gifts to consumers.
Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc., (UPPI) as well as Seaoil Philippines and Flying V announced that they are rolling back the pump prices of gasoline and diesel fuels effective 2 p.m. Wednesday in response to the clamor for lower fuel commodities.
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Chito Medina-Cue, UPPIs General Manager, said they are reducing the prices of their gasoline products by as much as P5 to P7 per liter and P4 per liter for diesel.
"This is just our company's simple gift to the Filipino people this Christmas as our "Big-time Pamaskong Handog" to the public and motorists, especially those who are going to the provinces this week and a fulfillment of Unioil's commitment to sell to the public high-quality petroleum products at affordable prices," Cue said.
Flying V and Seaoil Philippines on the other hand said they are imposing a rollback of P1 per liter for both their diesel and gasoline products.
Rey Jimenez, corporate communications officer of Seaoil, said the reduction brings down further the prices of their diesel to P31.98 and P31.50 for unleaded gasoline.
Cue said with their new big time price cut, Unioil's diesel products now stands at P30.97 per liter for Pure Diesel Plus B1 and P31.49 for Unleaded gasoline. Quantum Premium Gasoline will be sold at P31.99 and regular unleaded would be P31.21 per liter.
The move, the latest "big-time" cutback, imposed by Unioil beat other competitors to the draw by as much as P1 to P2 per liter for diesel and gasoline.
Unioil previously rolled back pump prices by P6 per liter last November 26. Prior to that, it has also implemented two "big-time" rollback of P3 per liter for diesel and P2 for gasoline in September.
"Unioil will continue this commitment to the public to have a fair and competitive pricing," Medina-Cue added.
Current prices monitored by the Energy Department showed that unleaded gasoline now range between P30 to P37 per liter, kerosene at P37 to P46 per liter and diesel at P29 to P33 per liter.
Dubai crude now average at US$ 42 per barrel lower than the US$ 50 per barrel average for the month of November.
Likewise, imported gasoline also remains low at US$ 42 per barrel and diesel MOPS now stands at US$ 63 per barrel.
Earlier, Raul Concepcion, head of the Consumer and Oil Price Watch (COPW) said oil companies should impose a P2 per liter reduction on the pump prices of fuel products as an advance gift to consumers this coming New Year.
Concepcion said the forward contracts for delivery in January fell down to US$ 33.87, while for the rest of February is US$ 43.40, which is substantially lower than those in December.
"Therefore the pump prices of diesel and gasoline should reflect these prices," Concepcion said.
He also noted that starting next year, consumers can expect weekly rollbacks to reflect the continuous drop in crude prices.
Both major and small oil players slashed by P2 per liter the prices of their gasoline and diesel as prices of crude continue to plunge.
Edgar Chua, country manager for Pilipinas Shell said the P2 per liter price cut was the given by the oil companies as a "Christmas gift" to motorists.
"[The] rollback is because of the appeal of Secretary [Angelo Reyes] for Christmas," Chua added.
For this year the P2 per liter rollback is already a "full reduction to for the rest of the year," adding "a portion of that is advance."
He said for January, "people can expect further reductions." (MSN/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (December 25, 2008 issue)
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