DOE: No oil price rollback

Sorry, no rollback this month.

Oil companies announced yesterday that they will not roll back their prices within the month as they continue to sell petroleum products based on higher import rates.

Officials of Petron Corp., the country's biggest oil

refiner, said a rollback may still be possible but it would certainly be not immediate.

"We have not ruled that (rollback) out. But given the present scenario, it may not be possible fortright," they said.

Most of the oil companies in the country, meanwhile, said they maintain inventories of 30 to 45 days, meaning the petroleum products they are now selling were bought at February prices.

"Thus, any rollback would only be possible after we have made new purchases with landed cost prices ranging from $20 to $21 a barrel," one oil company executive said. "We are looking at probable price adjustments in May, not April."

International price of crude oil was pegged at $20.73 a barrel as of April 14, although the average rate for the entire month was still at a higher $21.73. For March the price averaged at $25.06 and in February, it was at $24.68.

This month's lower cost was due to the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production by 1.4 million barrels of oil per day mainly in response to pressure from the United States and other oil importing nations which have been reeling from the rapid rise in oil prices.

Other oil companies such as Pilipinas Shell and Caltex Philippines said it was "too early" to determine if they can bring down their rates.

Energy Secretary Mario Tiaoqui told newsmen that oil companies had consistently claimed that they could not immediately roll back prices as they still have to recover their losses which have been mounting the past couple of months.

"The oil companies told us they would like to recover their losses first. Remember that they have been forced to temper their price increases due to political and social pressures," he explained.

Tiaoqui said he is planning to meet with oil companies separately next week to discuss the possibility of a rollback. "They have different conditions so we will deal with them separately," he said.