Oil firms told: Cut prices by P2, or else…

Oil companies have until Monday to bring down their prices by P2 per liter or they will face an investigation by the Department of Justice.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras assured members of the House appropriations committee that the government would compel oil companies to reflect the steep drop in world crude oil prices in their pump prices.

“We are expecting a P2 rollback on their oil products until Monday. If not, we will ask them to explain and the Department of Justice will take over for investigation for possible action,” said Almendras.

Almendras was asked by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño if the public should expect a rollback in oil prices especially with the collapse in the international crude oil market due to fears of a recession in the US, the world’s biggest consumer of oil.

Casiño, however, was still dismayed that the DOE did not announce the targeted rollback much earlier.