Oil firms implement big price cuts

MANILA, Philippines - Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and four independent players have announced big cuts in pump prices for this week.

In a text advisory, Petron bared rollbacks in premium and regular gasoline prices of P2.15 and P1.70 per liter, respectively. Shell announced similar price reductions.

After midnight Monday, diesel and kerosene prices will be P1.35 cheaper per liter.

“This reflects movements in the international oil market,” Petron said.

Meanwhile, Flying V said it slashed prices of premium gasoline by P1.50 per liter and diesel by P1 per liter effective yesterday. Other independent oil firms which announced price cuts were Seaoil Petroleum, Eastern Petroleum, and Phoenix Petroleum.

“Another substantial rollback is coming this week due to negative sentiments of traders owing to slow economic recovery in Europe and US,” Fernando Martinez, chairman emeritus of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association, said in a text message.

Minimum price rollback is P1.50 per liter for gasoline and P1 per liter for diesel, Martinez said.

Motorists traveling during the long holiday break stand to benefit from the sharp cuts in pump prices, Martinez added.

Last week, almost all of the petroleum firms cut prices of regular and premium gasoline by 40 centavos and P1 per liter, respectively.

Prices of diesel dropped by 35 centavos and kerosene costs eased by 25 centavos per liter.

Department of Energy (DOE) data showed that since the start of the year, the net increase in gasoline and diesel prices hit P2.03 per liter and 17 centavos per liter, respectively.

Under Republic Act 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, oil firms can set the prices of petroleum products based on market forces to encourage competition.

The deregulation law also prohibits the government from intervening or influencing the pricing schemes of the oil companies.

However, the government, through the DOE, has the power to monitor prices.

For monitoring purposes, the DOE has requested the firms to report to the department any price adjustments.