My open reply to a popular forwarded email

Just recently, I started the painstaking ritual of reading forwarded emails... one of which caught my attention. It was about putting back the gas prices to 30 PhP per liter by not patronizing the major gas companies.

Highly unlikely, with the price of crude oil at $127/barrel (42 gallons or ~159liters), that would be at 31.94 PhP/liter. The raw product would then be processed (increases the cost) to several constituents which would decrease the volume when the by-products are removed. Also, the addition of 12% tax would mean in around 3 to 4.5 PhP in total price per liter, depending on its market price.

The real problem is the OPEC that guzzle on fuel (by excessive use of SUVs) and put their expenses on the oil they export (similar to what Meralco does with its own administration costs). Another factor that may have contributed to the price increase in the world market is that they are afraid that oil may be replaced by renewable resources as main fuel (with the advent of hydrogen combustion and electric powered vehicles).

So, OPEC has hastened the replacement of fossil fuels as main source of energy by dramatically increasing the price of oil because necessity brings about innovations. (Think about it, our local scientists prioritized looking for alternatives for oil when the prices of it soared like a V-2 rocket).


(this post must have been influenced by Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory show)

Enlistment process

This is one of those times that I get to do something similar to a Russian roulette.