Oil companies will increase pump prices anew after Holy Week by P1.70 per liter for diesel and by P0.45 per liter for gasoline.
The price of kerosene, a product which is typically used as a base fuel for aviation and a key commodity for some industries, will also increase by P0.45 per liter as announced by the industry players.
As of this writing, the oil firms that already announced their pump price hikes effective Tuesday, April 19, are Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Chevron, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, PetroGazz and PTT Philippines. The rest of their industry-competitors are anticipated to follow.
With the incessant rise in prices, 2022 is flourishing as a major “recovery year” for the oil companies because the rising prices have been greatly contributing to upticks in their revenues as well as on their profits.
There had been several instances that the scale of price hikes had been questioned because of the oil firms’ tendency to inflate cost adjustments, but the Department of Energy (DOE) admitted that it has been helpless in policing the deregulated state of the downstream oil industry.
This is already the 13th price hike this year for the oil companies after just three rounds of price rollbacks that had not done much to cushion cost impacts on the pockets of Filipino consumers.
The rally in international oil prices recurred last week after the European Union sounded off plans of banning Russian oil. This has been viewed to be aggravating uncertainties amid the tight supply predicaments already reigning in markets, hence, the fresh round of upswing in prices to be reflected at the pumps this week.
Global market watchers noted that the price uptrends may continue in the days and weeks ahead which means the financial torment of consumers at petroleum pumps is not seen ending anytime soon.
As of Monday, April 18, the price of international benchmark Brent crude rose further to $112 per barrel from $111 per barrel last Thursday, April 14. Dubai crude was inching close to $105 per barrel.
This week’s fresh round of price hikes has been triggering anew the agitation of the public transport sector to demand for fare hike, especially since the government’s distribution of fuel subsidies have been incurring delays.