Cebu fuel costs low, say DOE

Fuel prices in Cebu and Manila went down for now due to heightened competition among fuel retailers and distributors in the province, Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said yesterday.

In an energy forum, Almendras asked local officials to allow more gasoline retail outlets in their areas to spur lower fuel prices.

“When you have one gas station in a town, that gas station can price P5 to P10 more and nobody has a choice,” he said.

Almendras also questioned claims by consumer and transport groups that fuel prices should be lower than P5 to P9 in the country.

He said fuel pricing in the country is based on the Dubai Index rather than the West Texas Index (WTI).

He said critics base their fuel price projections on the WTI.

“The reality is WTI is only for the Americans…We are importing our fuel prices from the Middle East and the reference to it is Dubai,” he said.

But Almendras admitted there is “ambiguity in the pricing” of fuel in the country due to the deregulation of the oil industry.

Still, Almendras said the government has a transparent pricing mechanism based on international fuel pricing. “I can stand before Jesus Christ himself and justify the fuel pricing,” he told forum participants.