Having a full tank in Mindanao is easy on the pocket. AFP PHOTO Cagayan de Oro City —Motorists from Luzon and the Visayas eat your hearts out.

Information from the Department of Energy (DoE) has shown that prices of petroleum products in Mindanao have been cheaper by up to P13 per liter over the past two years compared to pump prices in Metro Manila and Cebu province.

The nationwide price watch on petroleum products was ordered by Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi to prevent price manipulation and profiteering.

As of May, fuel prices in Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao ranged between P50.45 and P52.92 per liter, the average price of the three major players Petron, Caltex, and Shell, as well as the new independent oil companies.

In comparison, petroleum products in Cebu City were sold between P52.62 and P60.98 during the same period, while gasoline prices in Metro Manila were pegged between P49.75 and P65.08 per liter in the same month.

Nilo Geroche, Chief Science Research Specialist for DoE Mindanao field office, presented the DoE comparative report before the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region 10 office.

Geroche said the sample prices obtained in Cagayan de Oro were representative of the overall prices in Mindanao.

However, Geroche noted that Cagayan de Oro’s diesel was more expensive, ranging between P46.35 and P50.25 per liter, compared to Cebu City’s P45.31-P47.25; and Metro Manila’s at P41.75-P50.89.

Geroche said DoE has no definite explanation on Mindanao’s lower gasoline prices, but that this can be attributed to certain factors.

“We noticed it (Mindanao’s lower prices) since 2016, probably on third or fourth quarter. This was based on the report from Petron, which was matched with the prices from neighboring gas stations,” he said.

Geroche added it was Petron that first initiated the rollback of prices, prompting other fuel players to follow suit.

The lowering of gasoline prices has minimized the “bootleg” selling of fuels on soda bottles sold in rural areas.

Meanwhile, energy sales in Northern Mindanao increased by 9.02 percent or a total of around 702 million kilowatt-hour (kwh) sold in the first quarter of 2018, compared to the same period in 2017.

The province of Misamis Oriental had the highest share of energy sales with 59.12 percent or around 415 million kwh, followed by Lanao del Norte with 19.05 percent or around 133 million kwh.