Gasoline, kerosene prices to rise; diesel on marginal rollback by Tuesday
There will be an extended heavier financial burden on motorists filling up their vehicles with gasoline products next week, as the price of this commodity will rise again by P0.55 to P0.85 per liter, based on the calculation of the oil companies.
For diesel products, there could be a marginal reduction of P0.15 to P0.35 per liter. Kerosene, which is an essential base fuel for the aviation industry and other key sectors, will also increase by P1.10 to P1.30 per liter.
The oil companies will implement the cost movements at the domestic pumps on Tuesday (November 15), as anchored on the swing of prices of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) for regional trading of fuel commodities.
A monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) had shown that oil price adjustments since the start of the year still logged net increases of P36.30 per liter for diesel; P17.25 per liter for gasoline; and P28.60 per liter for kerosene products.
Global oil prices have been on a seesaw, with end-week trading finished high on news that China may finally be relaxing its zero-tolerance Covid policy, potentially driving up overall demand moving forward.
The Asian super power has already trimmed required quarantine periods for inbound travelers and scrapped fines for airlines found to be carrying passengers infected with the virus.
However, since there is no definitive timeline set yet on when the full relaxation of China’s Covid restrictions, the overall market outlook remained predominantly guarded.
The foreign exchange rate, which is another major pressure on oil prices, has also been tamed last week following the slide of the US dollar versus major currencies worldwide mainly due to the United States’ lower-than-expected inflation rate, improvements in jobs data, as well as the political developments following the results of its mid-term election.
Global experts noted that the nagging fears of economic recession had been predominantly sidetracked in market sentiments last week; while the weakened dollar had pushed back prices closer to the $100 per barrel territory.
Commodities trading last week had seen international benchmark Brent crude flirting back to the $99 per barrel level, but as of Friday, it still settled lower at $96 per barrel. For Dubai crude which is the benchmark for Asian markets, it was still relatively subdued at $89 per barrel.