Consumers may expect a diesel price rollback of about P0.15 per liter next week amid reports of a more contagious strain of the COVID-19 virus and concerns of fresh lockdowns in Europe that could dampen oil demand.
The anticipated oil price cut will put an end to several weeks of oil price increases amid optimism over the rollout of vaccines that could put an end of the COVID-19 pandemic and pave the way for a global economic recovery.
Unioil Philippines expects fuel prices to have a mix movement next week, or from Dec. 29 to Jan. 4, 2021.
“Diesel should go down by P0.10 to P0.15 per liter. Gasoline should have no price change,” the company said.
On Dec. 22, the oil firms raised the price of gasoline by P0.75 per liter, diesel by P0.85 per liter and kerosene by P0.80 per liter to reflect the movements in the international oil market.
That resulted in a year-to-date adjustments of a net decrease of P3.47 per liter of gasoline, P7.61 per liter of diesel and P10.84 per liter of kerosene.
The oil companies also increased the price of gasoline by P0.50 per liter, diesel by P0.60 per liter and kerosene by P0.55 per liter on Dec. 15.
On Dec. 8, the oil firms similarly increased the price of gasoline by P0.25 per liter, diesel by P0.40 per liter and kerosene by P0.60 per liter.
