The country’s oil firms carried out a price cut of P0.70 per liter of gasoline, P0.55 per liter of kerosene and P0.55 per liter for diesel effective today (Tuesday) following the drop in world oil prices.
Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines, Seaoil Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum and Eastern Petroleum issued separate advisories of the price cut.
Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada said the rollback reflected the prices at the world market last week which was initially low during the early part of the week but went up later in the week as the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-Opec countries draws near.
Monsada said Opec and non-Opeccountries will meet on April 17 to discuss the possible cut in oil production. Traders are keenly awaiting the decision from the meeting.
Monitoring of the department showed that Opec president and Qatar’s energy minister Mohammed al-Sada has said the output freeze is supported by 15 countries, which account for 73 percent of worldwide production.
Opec-member Libya will not attend, and also Iran as it seeks to increase output and regain lost market share after years of international sanctions.
Oil prices have been fluctuating due to concerns of oversupply.Traders, who were once optimistic about a production freeze were doubting its positive effects, stating that even if a production freeze is agreed, this would have limited impact on supply as Opec output has already been stable at high levels of 32.4-32.6 million barrels a day since last June.
Traders were also concerned over the decision of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to restart production at a joint facility that can produce up to 300,000 barrels a day of crude.
Last April 5, most of the oil companies effected a rollback of P0.15 per liter for gasoline, P0.60 per liter for diesel and P0.40 per liter for kerosene.