DoE to call for fuel tax suspension when average oil prices hit $80 ceiling

The tax reform law has a mechanism that calls for the Energy department to prompt the suspension of another increase in taxes imposed on petroleum products next year, the Department of the Energy (DoE) said on Wednesday, May 23.
Rino E. Abad, director of the DoE’s Oil Industry Management Bureau, said the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law requires the department to monitor crude prices for the months of September, October and November.
He said should prices during those three months average $80 per barrel, the DoE would certify that the ceiling had been reached, prompting the Department of Finance (DoF) to call for the suspension of the TRAIN law’s second tranche.
“If recent events persist — for example the Iran sanctions, the Venezuela ongoing economic and political crisis and of course, the objective of the OPEC especially Saudi Arabia to really achieve the $80 per barrel crude oil price — then the indication in the short-term leads towards the increases in price,” he told reporters. — Victor V. Saulon