DOE keeps close eye on pump prices

The Department of Energy in the Philippines warned, a day after an independent oil firm initiated a rollback in gasoline prices, that it will be closely monitoring oil firms’ pump adjustments to make sure these are solely driven by “market forces.” Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said, “We will see to it that oil companies do not unreasonably price their products” in light of a Php1 (US$0.02) rollback implemented by Flying V, whose move was followed by oil giants Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. on July 9. Although Reyes welcomed the price cut, which came as a surprise to consumers given the weekly increases being implemented by oil companies since April, he said there is a need to make sure such adjustments were borne out of the softening of demand for gasoline. “And so the price of diesel had gone up faster than gasoline and presented a window of opportunity for dealers to drop gasoline prices,” Reyes said. He maintained that market forces should be the only determinant for pump price adjustments. (July 11, 2008)