Oil prices to rise again next week
By Myrna M. Velasco
Spikes in pump prices will continue to exert pressure on consumers’ pockets next week as prices of gasoline and diesel products are expected to rise by P0.75 to P0.85 per liter based on initial calculations by oil companies.
The price of kerosene, which is the other fuel commodity in the triumvirate of weekly cost adjustments, is also anticipated to climb by a heftier P0.85 to P0.95 per liter.
Industry players will implement the projected new round of price hikes on Tuesday (September 21) based on the swing of regional prices referencing on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) indices.
According to global experts, world oil prices climbed back to the $75 per barrel territory during last week’s trading, primarily for international benchmark Brent crude – that was following reports of 6.4 million barrels drawdown from the crude oil inventories of the United States.
Market watchers are likewise keeping an eye on the next move of the US Energy Information Administration (US-IEA) on targeted subsequent drawdown from its fuel stockpile – with reports noting that there will likely be higher volume of withdrawal from its gasoline inventories.
That decision of the US, the world’s biggest oil consumer, had been widely regarded as ‘spillover effect’ of hurricane Ida which triggered oil supply disruption dilemmas because of damages sustained by offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Industry experts further indicated that despite the continued hammering of the Delta variant on Covid infections, fuel demand in the US had not waned in the past weeks, hence, supply tightening had been experienced.
In the Philippine market, there is high expectation that fuel consumption would be tracking uptrend in the coming weeks because of the wider economic re-opening enforced in the capital and other areas where coronavirus infections had already eased.
Based on the monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE), the year-to-date adjustments in domestic pump prices still logged net increases of P13.75 per liter for gasoline; P11.25 per liter for diesel; and P8.85 per liter for kerosene.
This will already be the third time this month that prices will be on upticks; with the first two price hikes resulting in aggregate P0.90 per liter escalation in gasoline prices; P1.30 per liter for diesel; and P0.75 per liter for kerosene products.