CCCI: More oil players to ease prices in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - After the Big Three attributed the low oil prices in other places to tight competition, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry is calling on more players to put up stations in Cebu.

During CCCI’s year-end press briefing, CCCI president Sam Chioson said that they will be acting on the reason of the Big Three oil companies, which the latter formally announced during the recent council session.

Shell and Petron Corporation both said that they had no choice but to lower their prices in Luzon to keep their customers and sustain their revenues considering the number of small oil players. This, they said is a normal solution to competition.

Chevron also stressed that their products are priced accordingly and that prices of products vary like that of diesel, which is higher in other provinces.

Chioson said that they will be writing to the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association to encourage them in bringing more businesses to Cebu. Through them, Chioson said it would give the oil companies no choice but to lower their prices as well in Cebu.

“The board agreed and all of the other associations that we should invite more independent players to come to Cebu and expand and bring their businesses in and we would decide on how we would be able to help them.”

According to Chioson, if this is the reason then they will be finding means to bring in more oil companies to the province and giving them the support they need to operate.

Chioson said that their invitation is not mainly on new players since there are a lot of independent oil companies that could fill up the void of oil stations in different places.

However, Chioson said that the problem on good location sites could also pose as a difficulty for the new players but they would be discussing this further especially with the collected support of more entrepreneurs in encouraging new players to operate in the province.

CCCI made a study earlier that differentiated the prices of the Big Three companies from other independent players which showed that they were P7-P8 higher. Chioson said that the companies may lower their prices down by P1 but still, it is not enough.

CCCI Vice President for external affairs and relations division Teodoro Locson Jr. said that through the letter of CCCI, they are hoping to encourage more oil companies to come. “Not only CCCI, but the entire business community will welcome them,” he said adding that they would have an open letter signed by different companies in Cebu .

But CCCI clarified that this does not mean that they are calling for a boycott on the Big Three but is just finding means to lessen the burden of the people and the province in general.

This as oil price issues affect the global competitiveness of Cebu which is being promoted by different groups including CCCI.

CCCI Vice president for business development and management services division, Jay Yuvallos, said that all sectors in the community is being encouraged to be globally competitive especially the business sector but then this could not happen if a big chunk of money is spent on the cost of transportation.

The group however said that while they accept the explanation of the Big Three on the high competition in other places as their reason for bringing down prices, CCCI however would not accept the reason that the cost of transporting the fuel here would cause the unexplainable discrepancy in oil prices.