LPG prices down P16.50 per cylinder

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 1, 2011) – A Filipino lawmaker, who represents the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association, on Saturday said they are rolling back prices of cooking fuel by P1.50 per kilogram effective immediately.

“Due to the drop in the international contract price of LPG, we are also lowering prices right away by P1.50 per kilo, or P16.50 per 11-kilogram cylinder,” Congressman Arnel Ty said in a statement to the Mindanao Examiner.

Ty’s group said the suggested reference price is now down another 2.6% from P640 to P623.50 per 11-kilogram cylinder at least in Metro Manila.

At this price, he said, the SRP is still 12% to 18% lower than the cost of LPG being sold by Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. under the brand names Gasul and Shellane.

A survey of Shell and Petron gasoline service stations in Quezon City on Saturday indicated that 11-kilogram cylinders of Shellane and Gasul were being sold for P760 and P713 respectively.

This is the second time independent refillers rolled back their prices in a month.

They previously slashed their prices by P1.00 per kilo on September 2, bringing down their SRP by 1.7 percent from P651 to P640 per 11-kilogram cylinder.

Ty also expressed optimism that the House will soon finally pass the bill seeking to establish a one-time exchange program for the benefit of consumers possessing dilapidated LPG cylinders.

The House previously passed the bill on second reading, upon the recommendation of the 55-member committee on trade and industry. “We are absolutely committed to promoting the safe consumption of LPG,” Ty said.

He said the LPG Cylinder Exchange, Swapping and Rehabilitation Program included in House Bill 3976 would systematically remove and replace all defective and substandard drums in the open market.

“This will definitely lessen possible accidental fires that may be caused by unsafe cylinders,” he said. “The cylinder exchange scheme is just one of the features of the bill, which basically sets the minimum fair standards of business conduct for all LPG industry participants, from importers and refiners down to neighborhood dealers.”

The bill sets adequate strategies to ensure that every LPG cylinder that comes out of a filling or refilling plant goes through rigorous safety or re-qualifying tests. Cylinders damaged from normal wear and tear would be promptly detected, repaired and re-qualified, or scrapped, as the case may be.

The bill also protects LPG consumers as well as legitimate industry participants against fraudulent refillers and traders, hoarders, and illegal importers of second-hand and possibly harmful cylinders.