Marikina rep urges House to probe possible collusion among oil companies
MANILA, Philippines – After the biggest oil price hike for this year took effect, a lawmaker has urged the House of Representatives to investigate possible collusion among oil companies to manipulate pump prices.
According to Marikina 2nd District Stella Quimbo on Wednesday, she intends to file a resolution on the matter, and on questions whether the Department of Energy (DOE) system of pricing enables this scheme.
“Are oil companies colluding in pricing fuel? Why is the fuel price increase similar even if they belong to different companies, with different procurement methods of buying oil from the world market. Their cost of operations are different also; maybe there really is a cartel run by oil companies,” Quimbo asked during the press briefing of Minority lawmakers.
“And it seems that the DOE is an enabler of this cartel […] I will file a resolution seeking to inquire into the possibility of tacit collusion in fuel pricing, and the possibility that it is precisely the DOE pricing formula that enables this,” she added.
Last Tuesday morning, Shell and Petro Gazz implemented price increases of P2.35 per liter of gasoline fuel, P1.80 per liter of diesel, and P1.75 for kerosene. The same prices were adopted by Caltex, although the hike took effect on Wednesday.
Other companies are expected to follow suit. These price adjustments are still blamed to the recent attacks at Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing plant, which allegedly slowed oil production.
READ: Oil prices surge as attack on Saudi facility disrupts output
READ: Oil companies told: Don’t exploit Saudi attacks to hike prices
However, Quimbo claimed that this goes contrary to assurances from the oil companies, that their supply is sufficient for up to 37 days — which possibly means that they procured oil even before the Saudi Arabia incident.
These changes are still attributed to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s North Jiddah bulk plant, which is the largest oil processing plant in the country. Lawmakers meanwhile asked oil companies not to exploit the recent incidents as a justifying reason to raise oil prices.
“If these are their inventory patterns, it appears that what they are selling today was purchased at least a month prior to the drone attacks. If this is the case, they have no basis to raise oil prices. My question is, are the attacks being used as an excuse?” Quimbo asked./ac
