The Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association asked the Energy Department to reconsider its plan to import Euro 2 diesel and consult with the Bureau of Customs if such shipments would be allowed.
IPPCA president Bong Suntay met with Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on Monday to air their concerns against making Euro 2 diesel available in their retail stations.
“IPPCA gave our side and explained to him why they should consider other means of lowering the cost of diesel other than by reintroducing Euro 2 diesel back to the market,” Suntay said.
IPPCA informed Cusi that making available Euro 2 would take time and could not be done immediately even if the oil players wanted to do so.
“Oil importers are already finished with their fuel requirement procurement based on their actual volume. Adding a new product at this point was not considered in that volume requirement,” Suntay said.
He said fuel stations would require retrofitting and would take time and money.
Suntay said savings from Euro 2 would be “negligible” representing a reduction of only P0.28 per liter.
He said Euro 2 no longer had a Philippine National Standard after the government required oil companies to shift to Euro 4.
Suntay said Cusi agreed that the reintroduction of Euro 2 diesel would only be optional to those who would want to sell it.
“But if he truly wants an immediate and doable way of reducing the price of fuel, our suggestion is to revisit the mandatory purchase of locally sourced ethanol which is more expensive than imported ethanol and reducing the CME [coco methyl ester] from 2 percent to 1 percent, “ he said.
Sources, however, the 2-percent CME price impact on diesel pump price was only P0.30 per liter based on current market prices.