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Oil at $100? Not yet cause for alarm, says Malacañang
THE almost weekly increases in oil and petroleum prices are not yet a cause for alarm because the price swings are still within the expected range, Malacañang said Wednesday.
“According to Energy Secretary Rene Almendras, the increases are still within government computations,” deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima earlier said the government had projected oil prices to range between $80 and $120 a barrel this year, and the upper end of the range had not yet been breached.
“We’ve reached $140 per barrel before,” Purisima said.
“The important thing is the target over longer periods of time is stable and is within the policy range.”
Crude oil futures in Asia rose Wednesday, with Nymex crude trading above $100 a barrel as investors grew more concerned about the political unrest in the Arab countries.
The prices are 25 percent higher compared with a year ago.
But Valte appealed to the oil firms not to take advantage of the volatile situation in the Middle East and North Africa, and to “stay faithful” to the true costs of their products.
Almendras would meet with the group Consumer and Oil Price Watch today, Thursday, to discuss the increases in petroleum prices, she said.
Almendras earlier announced that Saudi Arabia had assured the country of enough supply despite the growing tensions in the key oil-producing countries.
Libya is the third largest oil producer in North Africa, but the Philippines buys at least 80 percent of its crude from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. Joyce Pangco Pañares
