DOE fine tunes rule for IPO of oil firms

The Department of Energy (DOE) is in the process of finalizing the revisions in the circular that will govern the conduct of an initial public offering (IPO) of oil companies in the country.

"We will finalize the changes in the circular soon," Energy Undersecretary Jose Emmanuel De Dios said in an interview.

De Dios said the new circular will carry a more detailed and specified ruling on how the oil companies will undergo their respective IPO and will clearly define the role of the energy secretary on this particular undertaking.

"It (circular) will clearly indicate that the DOE chief will be the one who will set the conditions in the holding of the IPO of oil firms. The revised rules will give the Secretary of Energy powers in imposing penalties on violators," he said.

De Dios pointed out that the old ruling was not too specific on the powers of the DOE. "The penalties are not well-defined. We will spell it out this time," he added.

The energy official, however, declined to comment on the specific timetable of the IPO. "We have to determine that (timetable)," he said.

Though the DOE is sensitive to the current market condition, he said they would like to be assured that the oil companies are exerting their best efforts to pursue the IPO plans. "We would like to see some evidence that they (oil companies) are following the law. Within this month, we hope we can come out with the revised circular which will put some impetus to the efforts of the oil companies in undertaking their IPO," he said.

The revised circular, he said, would also spell out the penalties and fines to be imposed on oil companies that are found to be not making any effort in pushing for their IPO.

He said they have also talked with the officials of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to fasttrack the processing of the IPO applications of the oil firms once they are ready. "We have to assure that these oil firms will not encounter problems in the issuance of their shares in the stock market," he added.

He noted that registration and issuance of shares through an IPO normally take about one year. "We are looking at the possibility of shortening that period," he said.