“Without prejudice to seeking legal remedies, PSPC will comply with the directive of Executive Order No. 839 for oil industry players to maintain prices of petroleum products prevailing on 15th October 2009," Roberto Kanapi, PSPC Vice President for Communications said.
PSPC has also engaged the Department of Energy to seek clarification on some unclear points of the Executive Order, particularly, the products affected, the period of effectivity, the definition of pricing levels i.e. suggested retail price (SRP) versus actual retail price (ARP), and the geographical coverage of the Executive Order since not all areas in Luzon were affected by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.
In view of the resulting lower and fixed prices at the retail stations compared to the wholesale prices for commercial and retail accounts, PSPC expects a potentially significant shift of purchases by commercial and industrial accounts from being directly supplied by the oil companies to buying from retail sites. To manage this potential volume shift, which cannot be served by its retail sites, PSPC will allocate fuel supplies to its retail stations in Luzon based on their average sales in recent months effective immediately.
“While the intent of the Executive Order is to prevent unreasonable increase in prices of petroleum products during a state of calamity, the consequences of the Executive Order would be supply disruptions and negative impact on the investment climate in our country. We will continue to discuss these issues with the DOE-DOJ Task Force and other relevant government agencies,” Kanapi said.
