Oil companies raise prices anew

OIL BUSTERS. Protesters rally in front of the Shell oil company, one of the big three oil players in the Philippines, to protest another round of oil price increases in Manila. AFP

MANILA, Philippines – Even before a fuel subsidy for public utility jeepneys and tricycles could be implemented, local oil companies again raised the prices of gasoline and diesel by P1.50 to P1.75 a liter and kerosene by P1.40 a liter.

Chevron (formerly Caltex), Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Total Philippines were the first to implement the latest price increase. They said it reflected the increase in the global prices of petroleum products last week as compared to the previous week’s level.

This is the 12th time the oil companies increased their prices since the beginning of the year, adding up to a total increase of P9 a liter for gasoline and P9.20 a liter for diesel. Total reductions on the other hand were marginal at P1.75 a liter for gasoline and only 25 centavos for diesel.

So far, the uptrend in fuel prices showed no signs of letting up amid the unrest in major oil producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa. A Moody’s Analytics economist earlier predicted that global oil prices could further spike to $125 a barrel should oil production totally cease in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, according to a report by the Department of Energy.

If Iran is forced to reduce production by 50 percent as an offshoot of escalating unrest in the Middle East, prices could surge further to $150 a barrel – breaching Dubai crude’s record high levels of over $140 a barrel in 2008, the report stated.

Following the latest increases in fuel prices, the multi-sectoral group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said on Tuesday that the increases wiped out the government’s planned fuel assistance program even before it could be implemented. It challenged President Benigno Aquino III to fire his economic managers for giving him “wrong advice.”

Bayan said in a statement that with the P1.50 per liter increase in the price of diesel, the daily fuel cost of jeepney drivers has gone up again by P45 (based on their average daily consumption of 30 liters). The Pantawid Pasada, on the other hand, will provide a subsidy of only P35 per day and will not even be available until next month.

“It’s almost a year now since Aquino became President. But in terms of economic policies, we have not seen a substantial change from the anti-people and dole-out programs of the Arroyo administration. Case in point is issue of escalating oil prices and the response of Aquino, as advised by his economic managers, is to implement a Pantawid Pasada, instead of addressing the more important issues of the price deregulation, value added tax and profiteering of the oil firms,” said Renato Reyes, secretary general of Bayan.