OIL firms are raising pump prices on August 1 following erratic movements in the international oil market.
In separate advisories, oil firms said they would increase gasoline prices by P0.35 per liter, diesel by P0.50 and kerosene by P0.40.
Pilipinas Shell, Eastern Petroleum Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Corp. said they would implement an upward price adjustment on their fuel products starting at 6 a.m. of Tuesday.
Petron Corp., Total Philippines Corp. and UniOil Petroleum Philippines Inc. have yet to announce their respective price hikes as of press time. Melita Obillo, director of the Department of Energy (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau, said the price increase is due to the overall inventory drawdown by US, Singapore and Japan, for one. Likewise, according to Obillo, there is robust demand and that China and India are driving up consumption. On the downside, Obillo said the increase in prices could also be due to the slowing of US production. There is also the US threat of sanctions against Venezuela’s vital oil sector in response to Sunday’s election of a constitutional super-body.
According to the DOE official, there were 26 price adjustments for gasoline, 27 for diesel and five for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) since the start of the year.
The net increase for gasoline has reached P0.44 per liter and P0.40 per liter for diesel while the LPG’s net rollback stood at P2.41 per kilogram.