TRADE and commerce committee chair of the city council Councilor George Goking on Friday said a possible P2 up to P3 per liter of oil price rollback will happen next week due to the recent developments in countries China, Ukraine and Russia.
“That’s what the Department of Energy (DOE) is expecting that the prices of petroleum products are likely to go down next week,” said Goking.
Earlier, Goking appealed to oil companies to reduce the extremely high price increase on petroleum products.
As he explained, to lower the price of petroleum products could be part of oil firms' corporate social responsibilities.
“I hope that such a request would be anticipated and heard by the big petroleum product traders, he said.
Goking did not specify the date of decrease but he said it was disclosed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi himself.
Sec. Cusi explained that pump prices of petroleum products will go down as the prices in the global market now continue to drop.
According to Cusi, Goking said there were two things that caused the world market prices to go down. One is the lockdown in China because of COVID and the projection of lower demand for oil by China.
He also added, the demand for oil was somewhat tempered during these two days of ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Goking even said the rollback was also floated by the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA) on Wednesday.
He said prices of petroleum products are likely to go down next week, according to the head of IPPCA chairman emeritus Dr. Fernando Martinez.
“The rollback is seen by IPPCA to be from P2 to P3 per liter,” Goking said adding that this estimate could change by Friday.
Movement in the prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), meanwhile, will be known by the end of the month, according to Goking.
On Tuesday, oil firms implemented a major price hike, marking the 11th straight week of increases with domestic pump prices already hitting P84.55 per liter in select areas across the country.
The DOE has maintained that the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has hit global prices.
Accordingly, the Philippines does not directly import from Russia but sources its supply from other countries which in turn source their supply from the country.
“We expect next week, the petroleum prices to go down as if the prices in the world market continue to drop,” Goking said.
Meanwhile, Goking said that the DOE presented short-term solutions to address the oil problem in the country such as pushing P1 to P4 promotional discounts of oil companies, allocating P1.1 billion fuel discounts to farmers and fisherfolks, and implementing the Pantawid Pasada program.
On the other hand, Goking maintained that part of its long-term solution, is to propose the amendment of the Oil Deregulation law and the TRAIN law. (Ben Balce)
