Gasoline prices up by P1.10/liter, kerosene by P0.70/liter
Gasoline prices will increase by P1.10 per liter on Tuesday, Aug. 22, along with kerosene products and diesel, the oil companies announced.
For kerosene products, the increase will be at P0.70 per liter while diesel prices will go up by P0.20 per liter, according to the industry players.
The oil companies implemented a price hike for diesel products despite minimal reduction that was estimated from the outcome of trading in the Asian market as anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), with the oil firms noting that such was brought about by market premiums and the impact of the depreciating Philippine peso’s value versus the US dollar.
As of this writing, the oil companies that already sent advisories on their price hikes had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Seaoil, Cleanfuel and Chevron, effective Tuesday, Aug. 22. Their competitor-firms are all anticipated to follow.
Prior to this round of adjustment, the aggregate increases in petroleum prices since the start of the year already hovered at P13.40 per liter for gasoline; P8.60 per liter for diesel; and P5.14 per liter for kerosene products.
On questions relating to the bloated price adjustments of the oil companies, the Department of Energy (DOE) is practically helpless in policing the industry’s pricing strategies because of the deregulated state of the sector, despite the fact that it is the consumers who are being exploited in the process.
As of Monday, Aug. 21 trading, international benchmark Brent crude had been on its new round of rally, inching up to $85 per barrel from Aug. 18's $84 per barrel level.
That manifest uptrend in prices, the industry players said, is signaling another round of cost upticks at the domestic pumps next week if commodity trading prices will not soften in the days ahead.
As emphasized by industry experts, it is not also helping that the peso’s value is not tapering off from the P56 scale versus the greenback, because foreign exchange rate also carries major impact on how petroleum products are priced at Philippine pumps.