While saying more needs to be done to bring down oil prices, the umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan called on the public to boycott oil firms who refuse to bring down their oil prices as a result of EO 839. Some firms have allegedly canceled their imports citing inability to recover high costs because of the price ceiling. The group said that the big transnational oil firms remain hugely profitable despite the price ceiling being ordered by the government.
“The boycott should be a sign of protest against oil profiteering. We find hard to believe the threats by oil companies that there will be an oil shortage because they are allegedly losing revenues. Oil products over the past month have remained more expensive than they should be. The previous rollbacks prior to October 15 were not enough. So we really doubt the claim that the oil firms are bleeding from profit losses,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“One problem is that the Department of Energy itself has legitimized the increases after October 15. It was the DOE who, after a dialogue with the oil firms, said that the previous price increases are in order thus giving the oil companies a reason to insist on their current prices,” Reyes added.
Bayan said that prior to typhoon Ondoy, oil prices should have been brought down by P5.81. At the time the typhoon hit, oil prices were brought down by only P2.00/liter. Two weeks after the typhoon, oil prices were up again. At that time in the aftermath of the calamity, Bayan said oil prices could have gone down by another P3.81/liter.
Bayan tracked the movement of Dubai crude prices and foreign exchange (forex) rate from January 2008 to August this year. It then computed the impact on local pump prices of the monthly movement in Dubai crude and forex and compared the results with actual price changes during the said period. The difference served as the basis to determine overpricing.
“Before oil firms threaten us with a supply shortage, they should first be reminded of the huge profits they have made prior to the typhoon. Whatever loses they incur in the next two weeks will not be as huge as what they have earned since January this year,” Reyes said.
Bayan said the transnational oil companies usually buy from their mother companies at higher prices instead of seeking alternative sources of oil at cheaper prices. “There remains a lot of work to do in terms of reversing the deregulation of the oil industry. Even temporary price control is being resisted by the oil firms because they have been so used to the deregulated regime. At the end of the day, we have to realize that this policy does not work for us,” Reyes said.
World prices yesterday also went down yesterday and so international prices cannot be used a basis for the alleged supply shortage. ###
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from: www.bayan.ph
