As global prices lingered at multi-year highs, fuel prices at Philippine pumps will increase by P1.30 per liter for gasoline and P1.50 per liter for diesel, as announced by the oil companies.
The prices of kerosene products will also have an upswing of P1.45 per liter in this week’s pricing adjustments – and that’s mainly triggered by higher demand due to resuscitated people’s mobility.
As of press time, the industry players that already sent notices on their price hikes effective Tuesday (October 12) had been Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Cleanfuel, PetroGazz, Seaoil and Chevron; while the other companies are anticipated to follow the pricing trends implemented by their competitors.
The country’s oil firms are adjusting pump prices weekly, and it is mainly referenced on cost movements that are indexed on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS).
As oil prices have been relentlessly skyrocketing for roughly two months already, it is the public transport sector that is getting increasingly agitated – and that’s because the operators and drivers of public utility vehicles (PUVs) have not even recovered yet from the financial misery sparked off by the Covid-19 health crisis.
And given experts’ forecast of relentless spikes in oil prices in the coming weeks and months, the Department of Energy (DOE) has already advanced its appeal to the oil companies for them to extend price discounts or subsidy to the PUVs.
As of Monday (October 11), international benchmark Brent crude surged to as high as US$83.70 per barrel; and that had been viewed by market watchers as a ‘signal’ as to how global oil prices would shape in the run-up to the projected US$100 a barrel.
The Philippines is importing more than 90-percent of its oil requirements – be it the crude being refined by Petron Corporation; or the finished products being sourced from offshore markets by all the other industry players.
Given that stature of the downstream oil sector of the country then, it is anticipated that the pockets and paychecks of Filipino consumers will be largely distressed with more expensive fuel products that they will have to pay for at the pumps in the months ahead.
As many countries take their economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, it is projected that demand for fuel commodities will get tighter moving forward; and that will also set off further escalation in pump prices.