Oil prices cheaper by P2/liter

The oil companies will again cut pump prices by as much as P2 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market.

Seaoil Philippines led the latest price cuts of P2 per liter of gasoline, P1.95 per liter of kerosene and P0.50 per liter of diesel from 6 a.m. on Monday.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Petro Gazz will cut prices at the same rates starting at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

The other oil distributors are expected to follow suit.

“Please see fuel price rollback of Shell effective 6AM Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Gasoline, P2 per liter decrease, kerosene, P1.95 per liter decrease and diesel, P0.50 per liter decrease,” Pilipinas Shell said in its advisory.

This will be the fourth consecutive weekly oil price rollback as many countries become severely affected by COVID-19, prompting demand to fall significantly as people stay home to avoid being infected.

On March 24, the oil firms cut gasoline and kerosene prices by P3.50 per liter and diesel by P2 per liter.

On March 14 to 17, the oil companies also cut prices by P4.25 per liter of gasoline and diesel and P4.35 to P4.50 per liter of kerosene.

The year-to-date adjustments now stand at a net decrease of P12.85 per liter of gasoline, P14.59 per liter of diesel and P16.29 per liter of kerosene, according to the latest data from the Energy department.

As fuel demand goes down amid the 30-day enhanced community quarantine, oil retailers may be forced to reduce operating hours or close shop.

Demand for cooking gas, however, is going up as families stay home due to the quarantine.

“I don’t have the numbers but a lot of gas stations both the major and smaller players are affected. The bigger you are, the more you are affected because of the bigger overhead,” Eastern Petroleum chairman Fernando Martinez said earlier.

“Stations with minimum required volume are open with half the operating hours.”