Possible profiteering of oil companies alarm legislators

LAWMKERS on Tuesday raised alarm over possible profiteering by oil companies and the alleged continued dominance of an oil cartel as pump prices surged to historic levels.

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During a hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means, legislators questioned why oil companies quickly raised pump prices even while selling fuel inventories that were reportedly purchased earlier at lower costs.

The concerns surfaced as oil companies implemented another round of price hikes this week, with adjustments reaching as much as P38.50 per liter for kerosene, P17.50 to P24.25 per liter for diesel, and P7 to P13 per liter for gasoline, marking the largest single-week fuel increase since the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998 took effect.

Marikina Rep. Romero Federico Quimbo, who chairs the Ways and Means committee, said the price movements exposed the vulnerabilities of the deregulated oil industry, where companies base their pricing on international benchmarks rather than the cost of their existing stocks.