More oil firms are set to implement the P0.40 per liter increase in gasoline today (Dec. 11) and the rollback of P0.45 per liter for kerosene and P0.10 per liter for diesel.
“Phoenix Petroleum Philippines will decrease the price of diesel by P0.10 per liter and increase the price of gasoline by P0.40 per liter effective 6 am. of December 2018,” the company said in its advisory.
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines and Chevron Philippines also issued separate announcements of the latest price movement.
Seaoil Philippines and Petro Gazz were the first to announce the price increase for gasoline and rollback for diesel.
The Department of Energy said this week’s oil price movement was influenced by several factors.
The DOE said in its latest monitoring report that US oil prices stabilized on Friday, buoyed by a fall in US crude oil inventories.
The producer group Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, however, agreed to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day by Jan. 1 in a bid to reverse falls in prices in recent months.
DOE said oil producers have been hit by a 30-percent plunge in crude prices since October due to oversupply but demand outlook has weakened amid a global economic slowdown.
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said last week that Qatar’s decision to leave OPEC will also have an impact on oil prices globally.
“Qatar will be acting more independently and hopefully that would increase their production and increase the supply in the world market. If there will be more supply, then the price would go down,” Cusi said.
Last December 4, most of the oil companies implemented a decrease of P2 per liter for gasoline, P2.10 per liter for diesel and P2 per liter for kerosene.
Total year-to-date adjustments for gasoline as of December 4 reached a net decrease of P0.45 per liter.
The net increase was further lowered to P1.60 per liter for diesel, the same with kerosene with P1.53 per liter.