MANILA, Philippines—So as not to create false expectations, the Department of Energy (DoE) has told the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to stop talking about possible rollbacks in oil prices.

At an oil industry stakeholders’ meeting Monday, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said he had met with Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto, director-general of NEDA, to ensure that there would be no more price-related pronouncements, particularly with regard to rollbacks.

“The government should have just one position on this. It’s difficult when government says a lot of different things. It should have only one voice, and that should be the DoE’s,” Reyes said.

Three weeks ago, at an economic briefing, Recto said pump prices should go down by another P5 a liter. Since that pronouncement, however, fuel prices have gone down by only P2 a liter.

In the next few weeks, pump prices are not expected to go down, despite the slide in world crude prices.

Flying V chairman and chief executive Ramon Villavicencio said his company would not initiate any price reduction this month and would only adjust prices in response to the competition.

However, should the price of diesel based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark for refined petroleum products drop to around $105 a barrel and the exchange rate hold at around P47 to $1, it is possible for diesel pump prices to go down to P38-P39 a liter.

According to DoE data, MOPS-based diesel averaged $112.15 a barrel as of Oct. 2, from $121.04 a barrel in September. Diesel prices now range from P46.95-P49.98 a liter.

Eastern Petroleum Corp. chairma and chief executive Fernando Martinez, for his part, said a price reduction was not always possible as oil firms are now struggling to maintain at least some margin to keep their businesses afloat.

The public, he said, should accept the reality that the downstream oil industry is deregulated and no standard formulas are being used to determine prices.