DOE Mulls Stringent Oil Price Monitoring

The Department of Energy (DOE) is set to issue a policy by end of June this year for the stringent monitoring of the prices of petroleum products as part of its initiative to protect the interest of the consumers.

The said policy enables the unbundling of the base prices of petroleum products--gasoline, automotive and industrial diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, bunker fuel oil and household and automotive liquefied petroleum gas.

Energy secretary Alfonso Cusi was quoted as saying that the "identification of the costing for the major components of these petroleum products that may affect the pump prices would provide a higher level of transparency for our consumers, particularly the motorists."

In preparation for the issuance of the new policy, the DOE--through the Oil Industry Management Bureau--is currently conducting consultations with industry stakeholders.

Initial consultations with various companies were held last May 2 at DOE’s headquarters in BGC, Taguig City.

The DOE has scheduled two more focused-group discussions within the month to finalize the new policy.

Under the targeted policy, the DOE will require the oil companies to provide a weekly notice of the price adjustments (decrease, increase or no adjustment) alongside with the computation of their products' components based on the elements involved in the international price movement, the biofuels cost and the capital/operational cost recovery.

"The weekly oil pricing updates will also be announced publicly by the oil companies to guide the consumers in making informed decisions in the management of their fuel oil requirements," Cusi added.

Likewise, the DOE policy will require the oil companies/bulk suppliers and retail outlets to submit baseline data every end of the year for the unbundling of their base price and to comply as well with the mandatory price display board.

The yet-to-be released policy is said to be pursuant to DOE’s mandate under Republic Act No. 8479, or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, to monitor both international and domestic price movements of petroleum products.