Small oil players report upsurge in sales because of rollback

MANILA, Philippines — Small oil players on Friday said they have experienced increased sales by rolling back their prices since Tuesday amid reluctance by the “Big 3" to do the same. Eastern Petroleum and Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. (UPPI) said their sales went up after the major oil players Petron Corporation, Philipinas Shell and Chevron Philippines held on to the prevailing prices. UPPI corporation communications officer Leah Flor said the company’s sales "doubled in the last 36 hours" and this only shows that motorists took advantage of the low prices of fuel that the independent oil companies implemented as a result of the continued softening of the prices in the world market. Fernando Martinez, president of Eastern Petroleum, said all the company’s outlets saw a jump in their sales since the rollback began. Transport groups have called on their members to boycott the “Big 3" for refusing to reduce their prices and to patronize those who have done so. Aside from Eastern Petroleum and Unioil Philippines, the other small oil players that reduced their prices on Tuesday were Flying V and Seaoil Philippines. Martinez said that if the world prices continue to drop, more rollback in the prices of petroleum products will also be expected in the retail level. However, he explained that a one time-big time rollback would not be possible for the oil companies to implement. He said oil firms have an inventory of 40 to 60 days and it would be possible that these reserves were purchased at the time that the prices were still reaching the US$140 per barrel. Last Tuesday’s rollback was the sixth since the world oil market prices started dropping in August. According to the Department of Energy, as of September 4 the average price of Dubai crude dropped to US$105.30 per barrel from the US$112.86 per barrel average in August. Since August, gasoline and diesel prices have been rolled back by P6.50 per liter and P4.50 per liter respectively. With the rollback prices of unleaded gasoline now range between P53 to P55 per liter; kerosene at P56 to P59.80 and diesel at P52 to P54.09 per liter. Due to pressures, Shell, Petron and Chevron have said they are rolling back their prices by P1 per liter starting 12:01 am of Saturday. - GMANews.TV