The state of the Philippine downstream oil industry

• Main Author: Arao, Danilo Arana
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2002
• Subjects: Oil industries; Trade regulation; Industry and state; Deregulation; Economic Theory
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/2633
• Institution: De La Salle University

At a time when various groups and individuals have criticized government policies of deregulation and made subsequent policy reform recommendations within and beyond the deregulated regime, it becomes important to conduct a study of the state of the Philippine downstream oil industry if only to provide an objective backdrop towards understanding its intricacies and ramification. Consequently, this study analyzes the state of the Philippine downstream oil industry from the 1950 to 2000, with particular emphasis on the deregulated regime which started in 1996. The industry's history may be divided into five epochs: (1) Deregulation from the 1950s to 1970s (2) Regulation from the 1970s to 1996 (3) Deregulation under R.A. 8180 from April 1996 to November 1997 (4) Brief Regulation pending enactment of 2nd oil deregulation law from December 1997 to February 1998 and (5) Deregulation under R.A. 8479 beginning February 1998. Based on the study, there are inherent problems in the oil industry that are not yet resolved by policy reforms that reoriented it from deregulation towards regulation and then back again to deregulation. As may be gleaned from official data, the entry of new industry players did not make petroleum products accessible, since they invested more in urban areas instead of rural areas. Regardless of one's ideological persuasion, the arguments for nationalization must be duly noted to form an enlightened opinion about the matter and to ascertain its practicability, beneficiality and necessity in the light of the state of the downstream oil industry. This study is an effort towards shedding light on the intricacies of the Philippine downstream oil industry. It is hoped that this study motivate other researchers and academic scholars to conduct studies on an important component of the Philippine realpolitik.