Pump prices of fuel may reach P100 per liter

ANOTHER ROUND | A motorist refuels at a gas station along Quirino Avenue in Manila amid another oil price hike. (Photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Local fuel prices may inch closer to reaching the P100 per liter mark as oil companies implement another round of hefty increments in the prices of petroleum products this week.

Oil companies on Tuesday jacked up the price of diesel by P4.30 per liter and gasoline by P2.15 per liter. The price of kerosene rose by P4.85 per liter. Many Filipino households utilize kerosene as fuel for cooking and heating.

Rino Abad, director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau, attributed the big-time oil price hikes in the country to the European Union’s ban on Russian oil imports, the lockdown in China, and the rising demand in northern hemisphere countries due to summer peak period from June to September.

But Abad noted that certain “emerging events” such as the imposition of new COVID-19 restrictions in Shanghai and the decision of Opec (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) to bolster oil production might offset the increase in pump prices implemented the previous weeks.

As high as P95.95

“We will see if the restrictions will affect domestic fuel prices. Historically, their lockdowns cause a rollback in oil prices. Let’s see if there is a rollback next week,” Abad told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Last week, the price of gasoline climbed by P2.70 per liter, diesel by P6.55 per liter, and kerosene by P2.45 per liter.

The cumulative increase in local pump prices stands at P26.55 per liter for gasoline, P36.85 per liter for diesel, and P33.10 per liter for kerosene, based on the DOE’s price monitoring.

In Metro Manila, petroleum products retail from as low as P74 per liter to as high as P95.95 per liter as of June 9.

But figures from the DOE showed the highest prevailing retail pump price in Puerto Princesa City, which ranges from P99.45 per liter to P99.65 per liter.

Hope for rollback

Abad said the DOE was not expecting gasoline prices to reach P100 per liter soon although petroleum products in the islands are sold at higher prices.

“We do not expect fuel prices to hit P100 per liter as it is sold for P88 … P80 to P90 per liter. Hopefully, if there’s a rollback, let’s say P3 per liter, we will go back to the level of P85 to P87 per liter,” he added.

The Mean of Platts Singapore, the regional pricing benchmark for refined oil products, is used by the Philippine oil industry in determining the price of finished petroleum products.

Freight and shipping costs are among the factors taken into consideration in the local pricing of fuel products.

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