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THE
recent announcement by local oil companies that they
would need to increase oil prices by as much as P10 to
P11 per liter highlights the urgency of reinstating
regulation of the oil industry, according to independent
think tank IBON Foundation.
IBON
said that deregulation has not affected the domination
of the three major oil companies (Shell, Petron and
Chevron) of the local petroleum market.
Instead,
it has merely given the oil giants more room to
manipulate pump prices since their transactions with
their parent companies abroad have become even less
transparent with price adjustments no longer subject to
public hearings, it said.
The
unregulated environment gives oil firms greater freedom
to overprice and engage in transfer pricing, IBON added.
The
independent think tank further pointed out that the
recent P1.50 hike in pump prices implemented at the end
of May was the largest hike since October 2001 when
average retail prices went up by P1.20 per liter. It
added that the oil companies are threatening even higher
weekly hikes of P2 per liter allegedly to speed up
recovery of their costs.
Data
from the Department of Energy show that the three major
oil players continue to control the bulk of the
downstream oil market since the 60 new entrants that
have entered the sector since 1998 accounted for an
average of only 12 percent of total market share as of
2005.
IBON
added that high world oil prices remain a result of the
dominance of a few giant oil transnational companies
—such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Texaco, Total and
Exxon Mobile—over the global oil industry. |
