Oil firms want weekly price reports requirement relaxed

MANILA, Philippines - Local petroleum companies are appealing to the Department of Energy (DOE) to relax some provisions in a proposed circular requiring industry players to provide the weekly oil prices of all gasoline stations nationwide.

Energy undersecretary Zenaida Monsada said the department has yet to implement the circular because it continues to hold consultations with stakeholders.

“It’s not yet effective because we will still hold public consultations,” she said.

Specifically, Monsada said, oil firms are asking the Energy department if the circular could just cover certain areas instead of all gasoline stations.

“One proposal is for the circular to cover trading areas instead of per station,” she said.

Monsada said the department and oil firms are also still discussing proposals to slap penalties on those found guilty of violating the circular.

“For a circular to be effective, there should be penalty so one discussion is the penalty level,” she said.

The idea is to put the prices in an Energy department-run website so consumers could see which gasoline station offers the lowest prices in a given period and in a given area.

Energy Secretary Carlos Petilla said that nothing is final yet as the Energy department is still studying the plan.

Oil firms, however, have said they may have a hard time complying with DOE report.

“We are already informing the DOE of our prices but for all the gasoline stations to have their prices, published may be too tedious,” an oil company executive said.

At the same time, the source said, oil firms would be ready to comply should the DOE mandate this.

Oil prices have started going up again after a period of decline since last year.

Last Feb. 17, oil companies implemented another round of oil price hikes, the second week in a row of price hikes.

Local pump prices increased by P1.15 per liter for gasoline and P1.50 per liter for diesel, oil firms said, adding that the adjustments reflect movements in the international crude market.