Estrada to OPEC: Have a heart

Going a step further, President Estrada appealed yesterday to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to consider the plight of developing nations worldwide in setting their oil production and prices.

Presidential Spokesman Fernando Barican quoted the President as saying "OPEC countries must consider the social and economic effects of high petroleum prices."

"The President noted that while he understood the desire of OPEC to provide their own people with economic development and to meet the needs of the country, nonetheless, he is appealing (to OPEC), when posting or setting production cost and price increases, to also consider the effect they will have on many societies around the world," Barican said.

He said Mr. Estrada issued the appeal amid observations by world leaders that rising oil prices have been causing "great difficulties in the social fabric of countries around the world."

Mr. Estrada was picked by leaders of developing countries to be their spokesman during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Kuala Lumpur in November 1998.

Barican pointed out, however, that there are limits to the President's appeal to local oil companies to temper their price adjustment to cushion its impact on the people.

"The poorer countries are harder hit. In response to all these, he (Mr. Estrada) has already talked to oil firms, but still, there is obviously a lot of effect even if the price increase was lower than what was originally asked for," Barican said.

"Nonetheless, it resulted in (price) increase. He's not just talking to the oil firms now...he is appealing to OPEC," Barican said.

Meanwhile, the government pointed out that fuel prices in the Philippines are still lower by 10 to 260 percent compared to other non-oil producing countries in Southeast Asia.

Statistics from the Department of Energy showed that the price of unleaded gasoline in Bangkok, Thailand is P16.81 per liter, or 10 percent higher compared to P15.28 in the Philippines.

Unleaded gasoline in Hong Kong is even much higher at P55.15 per liter, or 260 percent higher than Manila's price.

Singapore sells unleaded gasoline at P30.83 per liter, and New Zealand at P19.01.

Diesel is also lower in the Philippines at P11.17 per liter, compared to Hong Kong's P33.09 and Singapore's P13.40.

A Malacañang press statement attributed the country's comparatively low oil prices to Mr. Estrada's appeal to the local oil companies not to drastically raise their prices.

Heeding the President's appeal, the oil firms settled for an average of 80 centavos per liter price hike, instead of P2.20 per liter adjustment they originally demanded.

"Aside from continuing to explore ways of cushioning the impact of oil price hikes by keeping prices of basic goods and transport fares stable, the Estrada administration has also been putting in place long-term measures to lessen the country's dependence on imported oil," the Palace statement said.

It quoted Energy Secretary Mario Tiaoqui as saying dependence on imported crude oil has been reduced to about one-half of the national requirement in 1999, partly by harnessing alternative energy resources, such as hydro and geothermal power plants, as well as agricultural wastes.

Tiaoqui also cited the development of the Malampaya Natural Gas project which he described as the "biggest single investment" in the energy sector.

The project has a confirmed reserve of three trillion cubic feet of gas and 120 million barrels of condensate.

Shell Petroleum Exploration and Texaco are investing $2 billion for the upstream natural gas development of the project.

Tiaoqui said that next year, the country will start producing natural gas from the Malampaya field, "a key factor that would significantly reduce dependence on crude oil and promote the use of environmentally friendly energy sources."