Motorists will open the year facing hefty new fuel prices, as local oil firms on Monday announced a big-time increase.
In separate advisories, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Seaoil Philippines Inc. said they will increase prices per liter of gasoline by P1.85, diesel by P2.40, and kerosene by P1.85.
Cleanfuel and PetroGazz will make the same changes, excluding kerosene, which they do not carry.
The adjustments will take effect at 6 a.m. on Tuesday for all the firms except for Cleanfuel, which will implement the changes at 4:01 p.m. the same day.
Latest data available from the Department of Energy show that last year’s adjustments stood at a total net increase of P17.85 per liter for gasoline, P14.95 per liter for diesel, and P12.39 per liter for kerosene as of December 21.
Last week, the country’s oil firms rolled back pump prices by as much as P0.70 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market.
Unioil Petroleum Philippines said in its weekly advisory consumers could expect fuel prices to go down starting December 28 to January 3.
“Diesel should go down by P0.60 to P0.70 per liter. Gasoline should go down by P0.20 to P0.30 Pesos per liter,” the company said.
World oil prices took a downward plunge last week amid increased cases in the US and Europe, the world’s biggest economies due to the Omicron variant.
The increasing number of coronavirus cases prompted fears of a slowdown in global oil demand.
On December 21, the oil companies implemented a price increase in domestic oil products amid optimism that the Omicron variant will have a mild impact and increased oil supply from the US.
Both gasoline and diesel increased by P0.55 per liter while kerosene increased by P0.70 per liter.
The Department of Energy ordered a price freeze on kerosene in areas under a state of calamity in Visayas and Mindanao due to Typhoon Odette.
Also, some oil companies did not implement price hikes in gasoline and diesel in provinces hit by the said typhoon.