The Philippines Ministry of Energy has announced that oil companies will be allowed to commercialize the more pollutant (and cheaper) Euro-II compliant automotive diesel oil, in an attempt to reduce the effect of rising international fuel prices on the national inflation rate. The motion shifts the country from a Euro-IV standard stated by the Environment department in 2016 to reduce pollution, since Euro-IV fuels have sulphur content of 50 ppm, compared to 500 ppm for Euro-II fuels.
The Ministry also ordered the National Oil Company-Exploration Corp to raise imports of low-priced oil products (especially diesel) to mitigate volatile oil prices.
