Small player Phoenix Petroleum Philippines led the latest round of rollback of P2 per liter for gasoline and diesel, triggering the 8th weekly consecutive oil price rollback.
READ: Phoenix sets off sixth price rollback
“To enjoy the long weekend with cheaper fuels, Phoenix Philippines will initially decrease the prices of gasoline and diesel P2 per liter effective 12:00 noon of Dec. 1,” Phoenix said.
Other companies are expected to follow suit but have not announced their respective price adjustment as of press time.
Unioil Philippines, for its part, said: “diesel should decrease by P2.20 to P2.30 per liter while gasoline should decrease by P1.90 to P2 per liter.”
World oil prices dipped, weighed down by uncertainty over the US-China trade war and signs of increased global crude production, according to the Department of Energy’s latest monitoring report.
Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte will weigh the social costs of pushing through with the implementation of the second tranche of the oil excise tax increase scheduled for 2019, Malacañang said.
However, the President will also consider what is stipulated under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press statement.
“We note the sentiments of the Filipino consumers and the President will certainly weigh in the social costs involved,” Panelo said.
“Due regard, however, must also be given to the dictates stipulated under the law, which only the Congress can modify,” he added.
Panelo made the remarks after the Development Budget Coordination Committee publicly announced that it would recommend the continued implementation of the oil excise tax’s second tranche.
He said the DBCC recommendation was still subject to discussion in the next Cabinet meeting on Dec. 4.
Expectations that crude exporters would agree to cut output at an upcoming OPEC meeting helped to ease the price decline slightly.
DoE said market participants looked ahead to a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 nations (G20), the world’s biggest economies, from Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, with the trade war between Washington and Beijing top of the agenda.
The ongoing supply glut plunged oil prices downwards after the US Energy Information Administration released its weekly petroleum status report last week, showing that US commercial crude inventories increased by 3.6 million barrel, maintaining a total US commercial crude inventory of 450.5 million barrels.
DoE said the crude inventory was now about 7 percent higher than the five-year average for this time of year and has risen for 10 consecutive weeks.
Last week, the oil companies also cut the price of gasoline by P1.10 per liter, kerosene by P2.10 per liter and diesel by P2.30 per liter.
Oil firms also rolled back the price of cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas by as much as P70 per 11-kilo tank starting Dec. 1 to reflect the lower contract price of LPG in the world market for December.
Petron Corp., which sell the Gasul brand, announced a rollback of P6.40 per kilo while Isla LPG, which markets the Solane brand, cut LPG prices by P6.36 per kilo. Petron said it will also cut the price of auto LPG by P3.50 per liter.
“Petron will roll back Gasul and Fiesta Gas prices (VAT inclusive) by P6.40/kg effective later 12:01 a.m., Dec. 1. This is equivalent to a rollback of P70 per 11-kg household cylinder,” the company said.
EC Gas, the liquefied petroleum gas arm of Eastern Petroleum, previously announced a minimum price rollback of P5 per kilo effective 6 a.m. Nov. 30 equivalent to P55 off per 11kg cylinder.
LPG now sell from P543 to P795 in Metro Manila as prices vary depending on the brand, location and market forces.
The Palace official, meanwhile, advised the public to wait for the President’s decision, noting that national interest will always be put into consideration.
“The President’s decision will, as always, be based on national interest and benefit to the people,” Panelo said.
The DBCC’s recent recommendation is a complete reversal from their recommendation earlier this year, when oil prices soared to more than $80 per barrel, that the hike be put on hold until world crude prices have softened.
Since then, oil prices have rapidly retreated to less than $70 per barrel.
Under the TRAIN Law, the oil excise tax hike may be suspended if oil prices in the world market averaged $80 per barrel in the last three months of 2018.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said economic managers want to implement the P2 per liter hike on oil prices next year because conditions in the world market have changed abruptly since their last recommendation.
Dominguez said that there are also projections that the price of oil will decline further to less than $60 per barrel in 2019. With PNA
