Congress to Probe Why Oil Firms Not Giving Bigger Rollbacks
October 20, 2008 by Tsikot
Speaker Prospero Nograles wants the House of Representatives’ committee on energy chaired by Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo to look into the profits of oil companies.
“If the oil companies are using the deregulation law as their excuse for imposing unreasonable prices, we will also use the provisions of the deregulation law which empowers Congress to exercise oversight over these firms,” he said.
“What’s keeping these oil companies from giving us the rollback that our people truly deserve? We deregulated the oil industry not to give these big oil firms the opportunity to milk us dry but to give us access to cheaper fuel.”
Nograles said prices of local petroleum products should not just be “reasonable,” but rather “proportionate to world market prices,” which have been on a downtrend for the past weeks.
“The price of oil has been declining almost everyday and I simply can’t reconcile why these oil companies are only giving us the runaround on a rollback that is proportionate to the present level of prices in the world market,” he said.
“How come that the average pump price of gasoline still ranges from P46-P48 per liter when the price of oil per barrel is now $70 per barrel, while the price in January was P44 per liter when the price of oil per barrel was at $87 per barrel? You don’t need to be a mathematics genius to see the discrepancy.”
Nograles said at the slightest increase in prices in the world market, oil companies quickly scramble to increase their pump prices.
“In reverse, they try to find every convenient excuse to keep their prices when there is a decrease in world oil prices,” he said.
“What’s delaying the big oil firms from implementing a one-time, big-time oil price rollback?”
Nograles said last January, when the price of oil per barrel was at the range of $87.19 – and the exchange rate was P40.94 to $1 – the price of gasoline was P44.45 per liter while diesel was pegged at P38.45 per liter.
Oil companies led by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Cop., Caltex /Chevron and Petron Philippines Inc. must “honor the spirit and intent” of the Oil Deregulation Law, he added.
Under a deregulated industry, oil firms vow to ensure a “truly competitive market and a regime of fair prices, adequate and continuous supply of environmentally-clean and high quality petroleum products.”
Oil prices have tumbled below $70 a barrel largely due to the general slowdown of demand in the US, which is one of the world’s biggest oil consumers.
By Delon Porcalla , Philippine Star
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