Oil firms trim prices; transmission firm announces power disruptions

MANILA, Philippines—True to the market buzz toward the weekend, the oil companies were to implement fuel price cuts one stroke after midnight Saturday or 12:01 a.m. Sunday, December 7.

Petron and Shell said in separate announcements they would roll back prices of gasoline by P2.50 per liter, diesel by P2.25 per liter, and kerosene by P2.25 per liter.

Seaoil and PTT Philippines said they were implementing similar price cuts from 12:01 a.m. PTT Philippines does not carry kerosene products.

These reflect price movements in the international oil market, where demand has been weakening since the oil boom in the U.S. earlier this year.

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

Industry observers in the Philippines, meanwhile, said the timing is also right for consumers wanting to fill up their vehicles in anticipation of higher demand after Typhoon Ruby passes through the country and possibly disrupts retail services in flood-prone areas.

Meanwhile, the approach of Typhoon Ruby already affected several transmission facilities in the provinces of Quezon, Northern and Eastern Samar, Iloilo and Camarines Sur, as of 3 p.m. Saturday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines said in a press statement.

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

So far, in Luzon, the affected facilities were the Pitogo-Mulanay 69-kV Line serving the Quezon I Electric Cooperative (QUEZELCO 1) franchise areas in Mulanay, Macalelon, and Catanauan, Quezon province. The QUEZELCO 1 franchise has 152,808 connections.

In the Visayas, down were the PalanasCara-Allen 69-kV Line serving Northern Samar Electric Cooperative, Inc. (NORSAMELCO) in Allen, Victoria, San Isidro, and Lavezares; Paranas-Borongan 69-kV Line serving the Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ESAMELCO) 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; as well as the Sara-Balasan 69-kV Line serving Iloilo III Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ILECO III).

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

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

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