The drive of motorists to gas stations this week will cause them fresh round of financial pain as the price of gasoline products will be up by P1.30 per liter, while diesel prices will climb by P1.00 per liter, effective Tuesday, Jan. 31.
Industry players similarly advised that the price of kerosene products will rise by P1.35 per liter in the new wave of adjustments at the pumps.
As of press time, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, Chevron and Jetti Petroleum already hiked prices, while their competitor-firms are anticipated to match their newly-implemented prices.
Prior to this round of adjustment, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that prices since the start of the month already logged net increases of P5.90 per liter for gasoline; P2.05 per liter for diesel; and P3.20 per liter for kerosene.
Last week’s rally in global prices had been mainly precipitated by rebound in China’s demand, following its reopening from tight Covid restrictions in the past months.
With over 1.4 billion population, it is conventional wisdom that any small or major step that China would do could jolt supply-demand fundamentals in oil markets globally.
Apart from China, another major Asian market that propelled uptick in demand in recent days had been India – with some of its refineries already back from turnaround or maintenance shutdowns.
The higher-than-anticipated economic growth of the United States was likewise counted as among the factors that triggered escalation in prices from last week’s trading days.
On a longer term, what is being weighed by experts is the recurring forecasts of economic recession, that in turn may soften demand in the months ahead.
Additionally, they are keeping a close watch on the cost impact of inflationary pressures in many economies around the world; as well as the interest rate movements that will be enforced by central banks of countries.