Reyes to push request for separate audit of oil firms

“We are making arrangements to audit the 2008 financial statements submitted by oil companies. And we will have a private auditing firm go over them and find out if there is overpricing or excess profits. Reyes and Socio-economic planning secretary Ralph Recto have had some very public disagreements over oil pricing. Recto claims that oil firms have overpriced their petroleum products by P8 per liter, which Reyes wants NEDA to prove and support by data as this may cause undue uncertainties and confusion among the consuming public. “I gave NEDA a set of the statements of the oil companies for them to do their own examination. The DOE originally asked the Commission on Audit (COA) to go over the oil firm’s financial statements. But COA refused since this is not part of their mandate. Reyes, meanwhile, admitted that there is pressure on local oil prices to go up in the coming days. “The examination of NEDA should be for purposes of economic planning. Our examination will be for purposes of ensuring transparency and reasonableness in pricing, whether prices are reasonable or overpriced,” Reyes said. (June 21, 2009)