Motorists using diesel in their vehicles will be shelling out additional P0.60 per liter; and P0.50 per liter for gasoline, based on the upward adjustments implemented by the oil companies this week.
For kerosene, the industry players also sent pricing advisory notices that this fuel commodity will rise by P0.55 per liter.
As of this writing, the oil firms that already hiked prices had been Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Cleanfuel, Seaoil and PetroGazz; while their rival-companies are anticipated to follow.
The oil firms noted that the areas still under “state of calamity “ will be exempted from the adjustments in kerosene prices this week.
Cost movements for petroleum products in the Philippines have been on upswing for the past weeks already; and this is seen getting sustained given the continued rally in prices in the world market.
Key developments influencing prices internationally have been the escalating rollout of Covid-19 vaccine in many parts of the world which signals prospective demand rebound in the near term.
In the case of the Philippines, it remains a guessing game on when it can have access to the Covid-19 vaccine, as government leaders have been sounding off that this may not come until first or second quarter of next year.
The country’s economic recovery has also been lagging behind versus neighbors in the Asian region, especially with the Filipino consumers’ confidence still not ratcheting up to the pre-pandemic levels.
Nevertheless, within the stretch of the Christmas season, it is anticipated that sales for the domestic oil companies may bounce back given the scale of people that have been going out of their homes either to take brief leisure trips or to buy necessities for the holidays.
The overall expectation in global oil prices would be continued increases through the initial months of next year, especially if movement restrictions in various parts of the world would be eased further as more people receive their vaccine doses in the coming weeks and months.