Following dramatic plunge in international oil prices last week, Filipino motorists can enjoy continued reduction in prices at the pumps as gasoline product costs will be trimmed by P2.10 per liter, while diesel prices will be on rollback by P2.20 per liter effective Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Oil companies similarly announced that the price of kerosene products would be reduced by P2.55 per liter, a development which is beneficial to industries utilizing this commodity as base fuel, including the airlines sector.
Industry players said the adjustments will be anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index, the adopted pricing reference adopted by the deregulated downstream oil industry.
As of this writing, the oil companies that already advised on their price rollbacks had been Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Cleanfuel, PetroGazz and Seaoil; while all of their industry competitors are anticipated to follow.
Prior to this new round of adjustments, the range of prices as monitored by the Department of Energy (DOE) had been at P68.60 to P85.80 per liter for gasoline; P71.05 to P81.65 per liter for diesel; and P77.29 to P87.90 per liter for kerosene products.
Last week’s downtrend in oil prices globally had been mainly traced to growing fears of recession as well as other economic troubles of the major economies of the world – primarily that of the United States and China, which are also the biggest consumers of petroleum products.
The general forecast of industry experts and market watchers would be highly probable contraction of demand due to slowdown in economic activities; hence, the price of oil commodities will also soften.
And while the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will be injecting additional significant barrels into market by September, experts noted that the issue of long-term supply availability has been a predicament that is not being provided with solutions until now.
The protracted Russia-Ukraine war remains as a geopolitical event affecting supply-demand dynamics in energy markets; but its overall impact is no longer as disastrous as when it had driven up global prices above $130 per barrel in February this year.
The seesaw in international prices is still very much the norm with Monday, Aug. 8 trading prices inching up to $95 per barrel again for international benchmark Brent crude from a lower $94 per barrel level last Friday, Aug. 5, while Dubai crude, which is the reference pricing for Asian markets, settled at $94 per barrel.
The series of price declines at the pumps in the past two months somehow emerged as ‘financial comfort’ to Filipino motorists, especially the public transport drivers, who have long struggled of cutback in earnings due to unabated oil price increases.