The oil companies raised pump prices by P1.45 per liter of gasoline, P0.40 per liter of kerosene and P0.30 per liter of diesel effective 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
The increases were the sixth consecutive adjustments following the movement of oil prices.
“Effective 12:01 a.m. March 19, 2019, Chevron Philippines Inc. will increase the wholesale posted price of Platinum and Silver by P1.45 per liter, diesel by P0.30 per liter and kerosene by P0.40 per liter,” Chevron said in its advisory.
Seaoil Philippines, PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum and PetroGazz issued separate announcements while the other oil companies were expected to follow.
Unioil Philippines forecast that oil prices would go up up this week by P1.30 to P1.40 per liter of gasoline and P0.30 to P0.40 per liter of diesel.
The increases so far have totaled P6.10 per liter of gasoline, P4.65 per liter of diesel and P3.45 per liter of kerosene.
On March 12, the oil companies raised the price of gasoline by P0.90 per liter but did not adjust diesel and kerosene prices. Before the increase, diesel was being sold at P41.40 to P50.63 per liter, gasoline at P45.24 to P60.89 per liter and at P44.90 to P53.45 per liter.
The Energy department said the tight supply from the Asian gasoline market pushed prices up.
Japan’s largest refiner, JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy, shut down its residue fluid catalytic cracker at its 129,000-barrels-per-day Chiba refinery on Thursday for 31-days.
Petronas will be starting its scheduled maintenance program at its 125,300 b/d Kertih refinery in Terengganu, Malaysia, on March 20.
State-owned Sinopec’s plans to shut down its Dongxing refinery at Zhanjiang in southern China’s Guangdong province for a two-month maintenance starting July 3, and is expected to resume operations around Sept. 3.