Cusi floats possible oil price rollback next week

The Department of Energy (DOE) said they are expecting a possible oil price rollback next week due to the recent developments in countries such as China, Ukraine, and Russia.

During the President’s Talk to the People aired on Wednesday, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi explained that pump prices of petroleum products will go down should the prices in the global market continue to drop.

“Next week po, inaasahan nating bumaba ang presyo ng petrolyo kung tuloy-tuloy ang pagbaba ng presyo sa merkado (next week, we expect the petroleum prices to go down if the prices in the world market continue to drop),” he said.

“Dalawang bagay ang nakapagpababa. Ang isa po is the lockdown in China because of COVID and ang projection ng lower demand for oil by China. Itong dalawang araw na tuloy-tuloy na pag-uusap between Russia and Ukraine, medyo na-temper din po ‘yung demand for oil,” he added.

(There were two things that caused the world market prices to go down. One is the lockdown in China because of COVID and the projection of lower demand for oil by China. Also, the demand for oil was somewhat tempered during these two days of ongoing talks between Russia and Ukraine.)

Starting Tuesday, oil firms have implemented another major price hike, marking the 11th straight week of increases with domestic pump prices already hitting P84.55 per liter in select areas across the country.

If prices in the world market continues to increase to up to $150, Cusi showed data that the prices per liter of gasoline will increase to P90.39, diesel to P84.76, kerosene to P84.17, and LPG to P126.10.

However, due to the good outcome of the past two oil tradings in Dubai, Cusi said that fuel prices in the country may also go down next week if such a trend continues and reach $104 to $105 per barrel.

“Sa gasolina, pwede tayong bumaba ng mga P5 mahigit at si diesel pwede namang magbaba ng P12 pataaas (gasoline price can go down by P5 and more while diesel price can decrease by P12 and up),” he added.

Despite the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Cusi assured the public that the country has sufficient supply of oil.

“Sinigurado natin ang supply. Nakipag-usap tayo sa lahat ng mga industry players ng assurance sa supply. Tayo naman sa ngayon, meron pong sufficient supply,” he said.

(We secured the supply. We spoke to all the industry players regarding the assurance on the supply. For now, we have sufficient supply.]

“Bababa lang po ang presyo ng langis kung magkakaroon ng increase ng supply sa pamamagitan ng pag-alis ng sanction sa Venezuela, Iran, at Syria na nakakapagbigay po ito ng mahigit isang milyong barrel a day kung maaalis ‘yung sanction. Then kung bababa ‘yung decrease ng demand at kung magkakaroon ng ceasefire sa Russia,” he added.

(The price of oil products will only go down if there is an increase in supply by lifting the sanctions in Venezuela, Iran, and Syria, which can provide more than one million barrels a day. Also, if the demand decreases and if there will be a ceasefire in Russia.)

Cusi also presented short-term solutions by the DOE to address the oil problem in the country such as pushing P1 to P4 promotional discounts of oil companies, allocating P1.1 billion fuel discounts to farmers and fisherfolks, and implementing the Pantawid Pasada program.

Its long-term solution, on the other hand, is to propose the amendment of the Oil Deregulation law and the TRAIN law.—AOL, GMA News