Motorists will have another week of reprieve at the gas pumps as oil prices will be on hefty rollback by Tuesday, May 2, based on the calculation of the oil companies.
According to industry players, the price of gasoline products will be trimmed by P1.50 to P1.90 per liter; while diesel will be down by P1.30 to P1.60 per liter.
For kerosene, a vital commodity for key industries, primarily the aviation sector, the price downtrend will be in the magnitude of P1.15 to P1.45 per liter.
Oil firms will be enforcing the reductions based on cost movements anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), a regional pricing of fuel commodities that serves as the main reference for price swings at the Philippine pumps weekly.
Prior to this round of adjustment, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that prices since the start of the year logged aggregate increase of P7.55 per liter for gasoline, while there had been net declines of P3.05 per liter for diesel, and P3.55 per liter for kerosene.
As noted by industry experts, the downswing of prices in the world market had been mainly due to reinforced sentiment of global economic slowdown, that in turn will be triggering slump in oil demand in the weeks and months ahead.
One barometer monitored pointing to economic downturn had been the decline in the capital goods spending of the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer.
As of Friday, April 28, trading, the spot prices for futures contract of international benchmark Brent crude were pegged at the level of $78 per barrel, a decline from $81 per barrel in the prior week.
This month’s tumble in international oil prices has been coming despite earlier announcement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and ally-producers (OPEC+) that they will be cutting production by 1.16 million barrels per day starting May.
Any continued softening of prices will be highly beneficial to import-dependent countries, like the Philippines, and that will be keep consumers happy on their routine drive to the gas stations.