WHILE private motorists can enjoy slightly lower prices of unleaded and premium gasoline, public motorists will have to bear the brunt and pay for more expensive diesel fuel.

On Monday Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. slashed the price of unleaded and premium gasoline by 20 centavos per liter but increased diesel prices by P1 per liter and kerosene prices by P1.10 per liter.

Total (Philippines) Corp. also announced it reduced gasoline prices by 20 centavos per liter and increased diesel by P1 per liter on Monday morning.

Chevron Philippines Inc., Petron Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., and Seaoil Philippines Inc. cut unleaded and premium gasoline prices by 50 centavos per liter and hiked diesel prices by P1 per liter and kerosene prices by P1.10 per liter except for Chevron.

Chevron said it increased kerosene prices by P1.15 per liter.

Local oil executives attributed the rollback for unleaded and premium gasoline and the increase in diesel and kerosene prices to movements in world oil prices.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras has acknowledged that oil prices have been volatile in the world oil market.

“The increase could be due to the US economic recovery and the extreme worst did not happen in Europe,” he told reporters.

It’s also possible that the rise in oil prices is due to signs of resilience in the economies of Japan and China.

Japan’s finance ministry said on Monday exports rose 2.4 percent in September from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month of growth as the country recovers from the March earthquake and tsunami.

Meanwhile, HSBC said its preliminary China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, which measures industrial production, rose to 51.1 from 49.9 in September. A result above 50 indicates an expansion from the previous month. The preliminary indicator is often subject to substantial revision.

As of October 11, an oil price monitor also noted that crude supply from Libya already resumed producing from its oilfields, with production in recent weeks estimated at around 350,000 barrels per day. 

It includes output from fields operated by Agoco, Al Jurf offshore field operated jointly by France’s Total and the National Oil Co., and the Abu Attifel field operated by the Mellitah Oil Co., a joint venture with Italy’s Eni. Libya produces about 1.6 million barrel per day before the civil unrest begun in February 2011.

(With AP)