The country’s oil firms on Monday announced pump price hikes of as much as P1.40 per liter for diesel effective 6 a.m. Tuesday to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market.
The firms also raised the price of gasoline by P1.20 per liter and P1.30 per liter for kerosene.
“Petron will implement the following price increases effective 6 a.m. on June 13: P1.20 per liter for gasoline, P1.40 per liter for diesel, and P1.30 per liter for kerosene,” Petron Corp. said in an advisory.
“These reflect movements in the international oil market,” the oil refiner said.
PTT Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Seaoil Philippines, PetroGazz, and Jetti also announced their price movements.
Department of Energy director for the Oil Industry Management Bureau Rodela Romero said world oil prices went up after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed on production cuts during its June 4 meeting.
“The market reacted to that. Middle of last week, there were also fears of inflation and recession, that’s why prices got pulled down last week, but prices were still pulled upwards,” Romero said during the Laging Handa briefing on Monday.
She said other mitigating factors were the weakening trade data from China, which may affect oil demand.
“We have no control (over this( because we are just a net importer of crude and finished products. We import almost all our requirements, although we have a small production from our lone refinery. We are just a price taker,” Romero said.
The hike will wipe out the price cut implemented by the oil firms on June 3, when they implemented a per-liter decrease of P0.60 for gasoline and kerosene and P0.30 per liter for diesel.
These price adjustments resulted in a year-to-date net price decrease for diesel at P5.35 per liter and kerosene at P7.35 per liter.
Gasoline, on the other hand, has risen by P5.50 per liter.