Oil prices are likely to go up again next week, and by as much as P0.80 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market.
“Diesel should increase by P0.70 to P0.80 per liter. Gasoline should increase by P0.70 to P0.80 per liter,” Unioil Philippines said in its weekly forecast.
Meanwhile, House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate on Sunday demanded that the oil companies withdraw their opposition to Bayan Muna’s request to unbundle their prices so the public would know if they were overpricing.
He urged the Energy department to make public the unbundled price of each liter of fuel. He also called on Malacañang to use its power under the Bayanihan Act on the issue of overpricing and the unbundling of oil prices.
World oil prices have been in a continuing upswing in recent weeks. They went up last week due to falling inventories in the US and the commitment of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production.
“In addition, optimism over a swift and steady economic rebound from the crushing pandemic lockdowns have helped global oil prices stage a speedy rebound from nearly two-decade lows in April,” the Energy department said in its latest report.
But the agency said the oil price movements were largely driven by supply rather than demand, and were seen as unsustainable.
Global oil demand is forecast to still shrink by around eight million barrels per day year–on-year, and to around 92 million bpd in 2020 from an average of 100 million bpd in 2019.
The US Energy Information Administration sees global oil demand averaging 99 million bpd in 2021, which would still be around one million bpd lower than the 2019 levels.
On June 16, the price of gasoline increased by P1.25 per liter, diesel by P1.10 per liter and kerosene by P0.75 per liter for.
The increases brought the total year-to-date adjustments to a net decrease of P6.72 per liter of gasoline, P9.99 per liter of diesel and P13.69 per liter of kerosene.