THE sudden rise in subscription to Platt data could cost the consumers says petroleum officer for Office of Petroleum Management for American Samoa, Sione Lousiale.
He said this when presenting at the 8th meeting of the Pacific energy advisory group at Novotel Hotel in Lami yesterday.
Mr Lousiale said Platt data was globally recognised information that is used to verify price of petroleum.
He said the subscription fees to the publication had increased significantly thus calling for a need to look for other independent petroleum reviewers.
“The most important part of the SPC is having an independent source of verification of numbers, currently if we don’t have it we will be getting what we get from the oil companies.
“If the oil company says this is how much it is going to cost and without an independent source, I am not saying that they are cheating us but mistakes can happen.
“If we go with what Platts is saying we will have to add at least two cents in the price of our fuel to cover that, so the public will be paying two cents extra,” he said.
Fiji’s total fuel import is about $1b per year according to the Pacific Community (SPC) manager for Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy Division, Solomone Fifita.
