As Ruby hits PH, fuel prices slashed; power deliveries cut

A girl walks along the shore as strong waves from Typhoon Hagupit hit Atimonan, Quezon province, eastern Philippines on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. Haunted by Typhoon Haiyan’s massive devastation last year, more than 600,000 people fled Philippine villages and the military went on full alert Saturday to brace for a powerful storm only hours away from the country’s eastern coast. AP Photo/Aaron Favila

MANILA, Philippines—True to the market buzz toward the weekend, local oil firms implemented fuel price cuts at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

Petron and Shell, the country’s two major oil firms, announced separately that they would roll back the prices of gasoline by P2.50 per liter, diesel by P2.25 and kerosene by P2.25.

Minor oil firms Seaoil and PTT Philippines said they would implement similar price cuts at the same time. PTT Philippines, however, does not sell kerosene.

The price cuts reflect movements in the international oil market, where demand has been weakening since the oil boom in the United States earlier this year.

Crude oil prices have weakened from over $100 per barrel earlier this year to just under $70 as exporting countries failed to agree to cut output during a recent meeting.

Industry observers in the Philippines, meanwhile, said the timing was right for consumers wanting to fill up in anticipation of higher demand after Typhoon “Ruby” hits the country and possibly disrupts retail services in flood-prone areas. Ruby is forecast to bring strong winds and heavy rains from Saturday to Tuesday.

The oil firms have assured retailers they are ready to restore fuel supplies in areas to be affected by Ruby.

In a related development, the typhoon has so far affected electricity transmission facilities in the provinces of Quezon, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Iloilo and Camarines Sur as of 3 p.m. Saturday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said in a report.

There were outages in these areas, the scale of which depended on whether all or part of the distribution networks were affected.

So far in Luzon the affected facility was the Pitogo-Mulanay 69-kV line serving the Quezon I Electric Cooperative (Quazelco) franchise areas in Mulanay, Macalelon and Catanauan, Quezon. The Quezelco 1 franchise has 152,808 connections.

In the Visayas, affected were the Palanas Cara-Allen 69-kV Line serving the Northern Samar Electric Cooperative Inc. in Allen, Victoria, San Isidro and Lavezares; Paranas-Borongan 69-kV Line serving the Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative Inc. in Sulat, Taft, Can-avid, Dolores, Oras, San Policarpo, Arteche, Jipapad, Maslog, Borongan, San Julian, Maydolong, Llorente, Salcedo, Guiuan, MacArthur, Hernani, Quinapundan, Giporlos, Balangiga and Lawaan; and the Sara-Balasan 69-kV Line serving the Iloilo III Electric Cooperative Inc.

The Naga-Labo 230-kV Line 2 in Camarines Sur has also been affected.

The NGCP said it would mobilize its line crews and conduct aerial and ground patrols to assess the impact of the typhoon on its operations and facilities as soon as the weather permits.

“Please note that loss of power may be caused by affected transmission facilities of the NGCP or distribution facilities of local distribution utilities or electric cooperatives. Specific cities and municipalities affected by the power interruptions are determined by the distribution utilities concerned, unless the outage affects the entire franchise area,” the NGCP said.

The necessary preparations and precautions have been implemented to minimize the impact of the storm on NGCP operations and facilities, the NGCP said.

These include ensuring the availability of hardware materials and supplies to repair the damage to facilities, as well as the positioning of line crews in strategic areas to facilitate restoration work, the NGCP said.
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