For the third time this month, Filipino consumers will need to cough up heftier amounts when they fill-up their vehicles at petroleum pumps as prices start to go up starting today, Sept. 20.
Gasoline and diesel prices are being adjusted by P0.80 per liter. The price of kerosene products, a base for aviation fuel, will also climb by P0.85 per liter, as announced by the oil companies.
As of press time,industry players that already sent notices on their price hikes effective Tuesday (September 21) include Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Chevron Philippines, PetroGazz, Cleanfuel, Seaoil and Total. Competitors are anticipated to follow this week’s pricing trend.
This time around, Cleanfuel has implemented lower price hikes again of P0.65 per liter for gasoline and P0.70 per liter for diesel – manifestly leaner than the price escalations enforced by competitors. Cleanfuel has been adhering to lower price hikes for some time already.
With this new round of price hikes, the aggregate increase in gasoline prices this September will already hover at P1.70 per liter; diesel prices by P2.10 per liter; and kerosene by P1.60 per liter.
The upswing in prices this week was mainly traced to the rally in world market prices because of crude oil inventory drawdown resorted to by the United States via its strategic reserve.
Following hurricane Ida’s strike in recent weeks, offshore production platforms had been adversely affected while some refineries in the US had been flooded, hence, resulting in disruption that triggered supply tightening in markets.
Industry watchers have likewise noted that oil demand continued to track uptrend in recent weeks as movement restrictions have been easing despite the continued pummeling of Covid-19’s Delta variant.
In the Asian market, it was emphasized that oil demand is now on its gradual climb, because even countries with high coronavirus infections – primarily Malaysia and India, already opted for wider re-opening of their economies and more relaxed movements of their citizens.
In the Philippines, government leaders have so far started taking the edge off on movement limitations through a pilot testing of new ‘alert levels’ of quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and eventually to other areas.