Unioil vows to continue supplying oil products
THE DAILY TRIBUNE
Unioil vows to continue supplying oil products
By Pat C. Santos
11/12/2009
Unlike other oil companies, Unioil Petroleum Philippines yesterday said it was not encountering any supply problem even as it continues to comply with Executive Order (EO) 839, better known as the oil price freeze order.
Unioil general manager Chito Medina-Cue Jr., in his report to the Department of Energy-Department of Justice (DoE-DoJ) Joint Task Force early this week, said the oil firm was still having “normal operations” in the two weeks that the EO has been enforced.
Considered as a “small player” by industry standards, Unioil was the first to abide by the price cap which directed all oil companies in Luzon to revert to their “October 15 price levels” and keep them there..
Medina’s status report was quite a stark contrast to those of other oil players that have been warning of an imminent shortage in fuel supply.
Rising world market prices have prevented them from importing petroleum products which they are forced to “sell at a loss” because of the prevailing price ceiling, oil executives told the joint task force.
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, apparently citing information from the complaining oil firms, even declared last Monday the country has no more than 13 days’ worth of finished fuel products inventory left.
Total Philippines, the fourth biggest oil company in the country, will use up its remaining diesel inventory by Nov. 17, its spokesman Malou Espina said. Its gasoline products will last until the end of the month.
Flying V, on the other hand, has cancelled its scheduled product importation for Nov. 10, company chairman Ramon Villavicencio bared.
Amid their rival firms’ supply troubles, Unioil has even offered a scheme wherein it could share its own fuel cache to new, low-scale oil retailers that were hit hard by the EO.
“We have received many inquiries about it since last week, mostly from provinces in different regions,” Unioil corporate communications officer Leah Flor said.
The fuel-sharing scheme, which offers five-year sub-lease contracts to the interested retailers, is a way of ensuring that these smaller companies get a steady supply of fuel and thus continue to operate, explained Flor
Unioil has fewer than 50 retail stations in the country.