BRINGING more relief to households from having to pay for higher cooking gas prices, local oil companies over the weekend announced that they have reduced the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to reflect international contract prices this month.

International LPG contract prices are set on a monthly basis at the end of each month and corresponding adjustments in the domestic prices are being reflected.

Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Total (Philippines) Corp.’s latest 50-centavos reduction, which is exclusive of the 12-percent value added tax, brings the total amount of reduction to one-peso a kilo this month.

As of press time, other oil companies have yet to announce if they will also reduce the price of their LPG lines.

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said that the international contract price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dropped by $17 per metric ton to $589 a metric ton this month from $606 a per metric ton in June.

Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said the government’s call to the public to purchase their LPG only from authorized dealers and retail outlets in order to avoid becoming victims of unsafe and unfair trade practices prevailing in the LPG industry.

“Illegal LPGs are those refilled without conforming to safety standards and without safety features,” the energy chief said.

Lotilla added that the prices of crude and other petroleum products including LPG in the international market are very volatile. He added that it is only right that consumers get their money’s worth in buying these products, most especially LPG.

He also called on LPG industry players and retailers to ensure that their respective members are not engaged in any malpractice such as underfilling, use of substandard LPG tanks and tampering of cylinders.

THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Investment Coordination Committee (ICC)-Cabinet Committee (CC) has approved more than P30 billion-worth of new infrastructure projects.

COMBINED fresh investments registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) increased by 30 percent to P130 billion in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year.

THE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the Manila Water Co. Inc. (MWC) will evaluate the viability of extending by at least another 10 years the concession period covering the East Zone as a way of mitigating the impact of tariff adjustments that may arise from new water projects.

LOCAL banana exporters would have to wait longer for the reopening of the Australian market for their produce following Biosecurity Australia’s (BA) admission that it could conclude its evaluations by mid-2008.

THE Korea Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF) is keen on extending a $200-million to $300-million annual Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) loan to the Philippines in the next three years.

BRINGING more relief to households from having to pay for higher cooking gas prices, local oil companies over the weekend announced that they have reduced the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to reflect international contract prices this month.