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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
After having to bear the brunt of the soaring
price of oil in the world market, local oil firms are set to slash
the price of diesel at the pumps in light of the tariff cut earlier
implemented by the government.
“Following the reduction in import tariff, we
will rollback diesel prices by P1 per liter effective 12:01 a.m.
February 1, 2008,” Pilipinas Shell spokesman Bobby Kanapi said.
Petron Corp., Seaoil Philippines and Eastern
Petroleum Corp. likewise said they will implement the same price
reduction on their diesel products.
Besides the cut in diesel prices, Fernando L.
Martinez, Eastern Petroleum chairman, said that the company will
also be offering a P0.50-per-liter price cut on its gasoline
products and will implement the reductions starting today.
On the other hand, Unioil announced a
P1-per-liter price cut for all its petroleum products effective late
Tuesday night.
Other oil firms have yet to announce their price
reductions as of press time.
Earlier than expected
The rollback to be implemented by some of the
oil firms were much earlier than what the Department of Energy had
expected. Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes previously said that they
expected the oil companies to reflect a price reduction from the
tariff cuts by mid-February.
The tariff reduction implemented by the
government on diesel, each time oil prices reach a certain price, is
in line with efforts to mitigate the impact of the soaring price of
crude early in the year, especially on the transport sector.
After reaching an all-time high of more than
$100 per barrel at the beginning of the year, however, Dubai
crude—the benchmark used by local oil refiners—went down to
$84.38 per barrel last week.
On the other hand, at the Mean of Platts
Singapore (MOPS), imported gasoline was at $97.17 per barrel while
diesel was at $104 per barrel.
The Energy department earlier set the trigger
point for a 3- to 2-percent tariff reduction, which is reviewed
monthly, to $83 per barrel for Dubai crude and $105 for imported
diesel from the MOPS.
The trigger for a 1- to 2-percent reduction is
at $92 per barrel for Dubai and $110 for MOPS-diesel. For zero
tariff, the trigger mechanism was set at $103 per barrel for Dubai
and $115 per barrel for MOPS-diesel.
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