Consumers can expect a rollback in pump prices next week by as much as P1.50 per liter due to sluggish demand in Korea and high inventories in the US.
“We will be expecting a rollback in the prices of petroleum products by next week based on the 4 day trading in MOPS (Mean of Platts Singapore) and relevant news of the week,” DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) director Rodela Romero said.
Romero estimates the rollback for gasoline and gasoline at between P0.90 to P1.20 per liter, and kerosene at P1.30 to P1.50 per liter.
Romero said several factors contributed to the anticipated price rollback next week such as Korea’s sluggish fuel demand due to the lowered tax benefits; and the high US refined products inventories.
She said the easing geopolitical risk due to progress on the Ukraine-Russia ceasefire deal; and upcoming tariffs being imposed by the US could also slow demand.
“Final adjustments would be determined after the last trading today (Friday),” Romero said.
Meanwhile, Jetti Petroleum president Leo Bellas echoed the forecast of the DOE of a possible rollback.
Bellas said diesel prices will likely go down by P0.70 to P0.90 per liter and gasoline by P0.80 to P1 per liter.
“Oil prices fell this week following reports of weak economic growth in the US that fed fears of slower demand. – Optimism that Russian sanctions are being lifted with the improvement in the peace deal between Russia and Ukraine continued to weigh on prices,” he said.
He said further weighing on prices is the potential rise in supply as output from several countries are on track to increase.
“Concerns that the trade war could cause oil demand to fall have eased the lingering worries about a tighter near-term supply, despite fresh US sanctions on Iran,” he said.
On Feb. 25, the oil companies implemented an increase of P0.70 per liter for gasoline, P0.40 per liter for diesel and P0.20 per liter for kerosene.
Year-to-date, both gasoline and diesel have a total net increase of P4.75 per liter while kerosene has total net increase of P2.90 per liter.
Prevailing prices of petroleum products in the National Capital Region for Feb. 18 to 24 showed that gasoline sells from P52 to P78.67 per liter, diesel from P50 to P74.64 per liter and kerosene from P72.64 to P84.20 per liter.