Motorists who will be filling up their vehicles with diesel products, including those in the public transport sector, will have to bear higher costs this week as the price of this fuel commodity will rise by P4.30 per liter, according to the price adjustment advisories of the oil companies.
In parallel, the price of kerosene which is a critical base fuel for the aviation sector and other industries, will escalate by P4.85 per liter while gasoline prices will climb by P2.15 per liter.
As of press time, the oil companies that already sent notices on their price increases effective Tuesday, June 14, had been Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, Chevron and PTT Philippines. Their competitor-firms are anticipated to follow.
With this new round of cost upswings, the aggregate increase for diesel product prices already hovered at P41.15 per liter; P37.95 per liter for kerosene; and P28.70 per liter for gasoline products.
As of Monday, June 13, trading of international benchmark Brent crude softened by roughly $2.00 per barrel to the level of $120 per barrel versus last week’s $122 per barrel but market watchers qualified that it’s still too early to tell if the downtrend will be sustained for the rest of the week.
But given the niggling impact of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, the general sentiment in the global industry had been that ‘market turbulence’ may continue in the weeks and months ahead; as there are still no countermeasures in sight that could help soften prices.
For the Asian market, in particular, market experts had cited Russia’s pronouncement that it no longer has “extra volume” to sell to India, one of the biggest markets for oil in the world – and that situation is seen weighing down on the overall supply-demand fundamental of oil markets.
Even state-owned Venezuelan oil producer PDVSA has also been enforcing stricter prepayment scheme for oil being lifted from its shores; as it noted that some Chinese buyers had defaulted on their financial obligations.
For the Philippine market, apart from rising global oil prices, another factor that could trigger further rally in domestic pump prices could be the weakening value of the Philippine peso versus the US dollar – which as of Monday was trading above P53.
The relentless upticks at the pumps had already prompted government to approve fare hike for the transport sector – primarily for jeepneys - and this is the same plea that the bus drivers and operators have also been batting for at this time.