THE Department of Energy (DOE) announced Wednesday, October 2, that it issued show cause orders against oil firms that imposed a lower price cut in pump prices of petroleum products.
"We have currently sent a show cause order sa lahat ng mga iba't ibang oil companies sa Pilipinas dahil noong kami ay in-inform nila na magba-baba sila ng presya, magro-rollback sila ng presyo ng gasolina at diesel, noong kinumpara namin, when we compared this with 'yung computation namin kung magkano dapat ang pag-baba o pag-roll back, mas mababa 'yung kanila," DOE Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III said in a press conference.
(We have currently sent a show cause order to different oil companies in the Philippines because when they informed us that they will roll back the prices of gasoline and diesel, their prices were lower compared to our computation as to how much should be the rollback.)
"We want them to explain it. Hindi naman po namin sinasabi na mali sila but we want to give them the opportunity to explain to us bakit ganoon (We are not saying they did a wrong move, but we want to give them the opportunity to explain why did they did that)," he added.
Pulido did not specify their expected amount of rollback, but said the pump prices of some oil companies are higher by 22 centavos for gasoline and .06 centavo for diesel.
"They should have rolled back. From 'yung nakikita ninyo ngayon na dinedeklara nila na presyo, dapat less than 22 centavos 'yun for gasoline and less .06 centavo for diesel (From their declared prices, it should be less than 22 centavos for gasoline and less .06 centavo for diesel)," he said.
In the aftermath of the September 14 drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's state-run oil facilities, oil firms in the Philippines raised on September 17 the prices of gasoline by P2.35 per liter, diesel by P1.80 per liter, and kerosene by P1.75 per liter.
Oil companies, however, implemented a big-time price rollback on Sunday, September 30.
Phoenix Petroleum led the price cuts with a decrease of P1.55 per liter on gasoline and P0.50 per liter on diesel on Sunday.
Unioil also announced a significant price reduction of gasoline by P1.40 and diesel by P0.70.
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, Seaoil Philippines, and Caltex also reduced the prices of gasoline by P1.45 per liter, diesel by P0.60 per liter, and kerosene by P1 per liter.
Petro Gazz also implemented a downward price adjustment in its gasoline products by P1.55 per liter and diesel by P0.50 per liter.
Cleanfuel also cut the price of gasoline by P1.50 per liter and diesel by P0.50 per liter.
Pulido assured the public that there is no need to worry as there is no oil crisis in the country because of "diversified" sources of petroleum products.
"One of the first few things that the Department of Energy did was to meet with the different oil companies to assure supply. And we're assured that we have a minimum inventory requirement of 30 days crude, 15 days finished products, and seven days of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). So wala tayong problema sa supply (So there's no problem in the supply)," he said.
The Energy official, however, admitted that the the Philippines is affected by Saudi oil attacks in terms of pump prices.
But he noted that Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has already directed Philippine National Oil Company president Reuben Lista to begin importing cheaper diesel.
Pulido added that the DOE sought to ask Congress to pass a measure on strategic petroleum reserves. (SunStar Philippines)