Philippine Business Today

MANILA, Philippine – Small oil player Eastern Petroleum on Thursday hinted of another price rollback in its fuel products this coming weekend.

In fact, Fernando Martinez, president of the oil firm, said in a radio interview that the price reduction could be implemented earlier if other oil firms would take the lead at another cut.

“Mukhang tiyak na ako na may nakikita akong P0.50 na rollback sa gasoline at sa diesel (I am almost certain about a 50-centavo rollback in gasoline and diesel)," Martinez said.

Last week, the oil firm was among the small players that first implemented a price reduction of P1 per liter on all its diesel and gasoline products. The action snowballed into the eventual price cuts of two major oil companies.

“Mga Saturday pa iyang rollback namin. Pero kung may mauuna eh di between now and Saturday ay susundan natin iyan. Kami naman ay sumasabay lang (We may implement the cut on Saturday. But if a competitor makes the first step, the rollback can be pushed earlier)," Martinez said.

He added his company could not immediately enforce a price reduction without considering the actions that would be taken by their competitors.

Martinez said they were taking precaution in consideration of their oil dealers, who might lose out in the end.

“Ang dealers natin kapag nauna ka na magbaba at mayroon pa silang old inventory na mas mataas (nilang binili) kakawa rin sila (If you cut the oil price, dealers might lose revenue from the products they bought earlier at higher prices)," he said.

He said Eastern is able to accommodate the series of price rollbacks despite its under recovery because it is already anticipating the downward trend of oil prices in the world market.

“Iyang under recovery ino-offset na lang natin dahil nakita namn natin na iyong mga parating na produkto ay mas mura ng around $20 (We are off-setting our under recovery because the products that are coming in are already $20 cheaper)," Martinez said.

He, however, advised oil consumers not to immediately demand for a rollback once news spread that world market prices have declined.

He reminded consumers of the one month “delivery time" for the barrels of crude oil to be imported to the country, causing a delay in the rollbacks.

“Ang isang misinterpretation kasi, kapag bumagsak para bang bumili sa botika na gusto nila maramdaman ang pagbayad dahil iyon na rin kagad ang produkto," Martinez said. (There is a misinterpretation in the oil market interplay. People think that buying oil is just like buying medicine from a drugstore. They immediately want to feel the price slash.) - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV

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