Consumers will need to squeeze blood from stone again as the price of petroleum commodities will track another wave of big-time hikes at the pumps next week, based on the calculation of the oil companies.
On the estimates of industry players, the price of diesel products will soar by additional P4.20 to P4.40 per liter; and kerosene will incur cost hikes of P4.70 to P4.90 per liter.
For gasoline products, the upward price adjustment will be relatively leaner at P1.40 to P1.60 per liter, when prices will change again at retail stations by Tuesday (June 14) and it will be anchored on last week’s cost movements of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS).
Another cost-influencing factor being monitored by the domestic downstream industry is the exchange rate of the Philippine peso versus the US dollar, which already hit P53 as of end-week trading.
As culled from the monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE), the swing in oil prices since the start of the year already incurred net increases of P36.85 per liter for diesel; P33.10 per liter for kerosene; and P26.55 per liter for gasoline products.
Prior to next week’s round of adjustments, the price ranges at the pumps have been at: P73.00 to P95.15 per liter for gasoline products; P70.65 to P84.05 per liter for diesel products; and P77.64 to P85.37 per liter for kerosene products.
Global experts noted that the oil industry continued on its ‘turbulent course’ last week, as international benchmark Brent crude had been roughly steady at a high of $122 per barrel – and that’s due to the absence of any new factor that could help soften international prices.
Market watchers opined that the recent Russian oil embargo decision of the European Union; the falling fuel inventories of the United States; as well as the lifting of the three-month coronavirus lockdown in China still prompted oil prices to climb back to fresh batch of record-highs.
Dubai crude, which is the reference pricing for Asian markets, also gyrated wildly to the level of $117 per barrel as of Friday (June 10) trading – that’s roughly $9.0 per barrel escalation from the previous week’s average of $108 per barrel.
Given the incessantly rising prices at the domestic petroleum pumps, intensified calls are being lodged anew for the government to seriously consider suspending the imposition of excise taxes on fuel products.
If that interim tax scrapping will be heeded, it is expected that prices will soften by at least P10 per liter for gasoline; P6.00 per liter for diesel; and P5.00 per liter for kerosene products – hence, it will come as an immediate relief in the pockets of consumers, especially for the drivers of the public transport sector.
Nevertheless, the outgoing Duterte administration already wants to toss the evaluation and decision on that policy proposition with the incoming Marcos administration, which will officially take the seat of power by June 30 this year. ###