DOE, refiners, consumers to tackle oil pricing issue

Iligan City – Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez will thresh out the issue of pricing benchmark with Consumer and Oil Price Watch (COPW) chairman Raul T. Concepcion and oil refiners Petron and Shell.

In a press conference here, Perez said "he will summon the two parties to a meeting to clarify a possible misunderstanding on the price benchmarking issue.

Perez said Petron Corp. chairman Nicasio Alcantara indicated to him that there would be no change in their pricing formula.

He said Alcantara has assured him that Petron, which is partly-owned by the government, will be following both Dubai crude and Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) as benchmarks in pricing their products.

Perez said he would persuade Petron and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. to explain to consumers "what exactly they want to do in pricing their products".

"We have to avoid getting the public confused in these kind of issues. We do not want to create unnecessary panic. It is the policy of the DOE to maintain harmony in the industry," he said.

Last week, Concepcion revealed that the oil refiners plan to shift to MOPS, a move which would trigger higher oil prices. New oil players, for instance, would need to recover P1.51 per liter for gasoline and P1.27 for diesel due to higher prices of MOPS.

He noted that MOPS has posted significant increase in prices since September last year. Last month, MOPS for diesel was pegged at $42.62 per barrel from $33.11 per barrel in September.

MOPS for gasoline likewise posted a significant increase to $45.31 per barrel from $34.32 per barrel in September.

Meanwhile, Dubai crude reached $28.87 per barrel in January from $25.37 in September.

"We were therefore surprised that the oil companies wanted to shift from Dubai to MOPS," Concepcion said.