Consumers will have another wave of financial breather at the gas pumps by Tuesday (February 28) as oil prices had been calculated to be on rollback, based on the estimates of the oil companies.
According to the industry players, the price of diesel products will be down by P1.40 to P1.80 per liter; while gasoline will be reduced by P0.75 to P1.15 per liter.
The price of kerosene, which is another commodity that is essential in heating winter-overwhelmed countries as well as a lighting and cooking fuel for many homes and also a base for jet fuel, will be trimmed by P1.50 to P1.90 per liter.
The added relief in the consumers’ pockets next month is the anticipated downtrend of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by March 1 (Wednesday) – which currently is calculated to be cut by P1.00 to P1.50 per kilogram.
For fuel products at the pumps, the basis of cost adjustments will be Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS); while LPG price swings will be anchored on international contract prices as benchmarked on Saudi Aramco, the reference pricing for Asian markets.
MOPS, in particular, is a pricing paradigm that is used to determine the cost of crude oil and refined products in Asia. This is widely used by traders, refiners and end-users to track the price of oil being traded in the region.
Prior to the next round of cost movements, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that domestic prices since the start of the year had logged a net increase of P6.00 per liter for gasoline; while there had been overall decreases of P1.10 per liter for diesel and P0.50 per liter for kerosene.
Industry experts noted that the slide in prices in the world market last week had been due to the inventory buildup in major energy markets primarily in the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer; as well as its continually rising inflation which is seen to trigger another round of interest rate hikes’ enforcement by the Federal Reserve.
Nevertheless, market watchers indicated that the price softening may not last long and an immediate reverse may happen next week, with speculations swirling on Russia’s plan for additional cutback in production; while China has been shoring up product importation due to uptick in its demand.
A comeback in China’s mammoth fuel usage is being projected, as its state-owned Sinopec and PetroChina have firmed up new batch of March-loading cargoes that are set to sail soon from the US Gulf Coast.
Further, the Asian super power country secured additional export-barrels from Iraq; wherein it was allowed to settle the shipments in Chinese yuan rather than the usual US dollar.
Given the emerging dynamics in the global as well as Asian oil markets next week, there is high anticipation that the forthcoming adjustments at the pumps may hover toward escalation. ###