Pump prices continue to decline following the coronavirus pandemic with another rollback of as much as P0.70 per liter expected this week.
Unioil Philippines announced in its advisory it expects fuel prices to go down for the week of April 7 to 13.
“Diesel should go down around P0.70 per liter. Gasoline should go down around P0.35 per liter,” the company said.
This will be the fifth weekly consecutive oil price rollback, reflecting the global slowdown in demand due to COVID-19.
On March 31, the country’s oil firms cut the price of gasoline by P2 per liter, kerosene by P1.95 per liter and P0.50 per liter for diesel.
World oil prices have been on a downtrend as countries become severely affected by COVID-19, prompting demand to fall significantly as people stay at home to avoid being infected.
“Looking forward, Asia’s oil demand is expected to see some recovery in 2020 due to various stimulus measures introduced by various governments in the region and the outbreak starts to ease,” the Energy department said in its monitoring report.
Last March 24, the oil firms cut the price of gasoline and kerosene by P3.50 per liter and diesel by P2 per liter.
A week before, the oil companies implemented price rollbacks of P4.25 per liter for gasoline and diesel, and P4.35 to P4.50 per liter for kerosene.
Year-to-date adjustments stand at a net decrease of P14.72 per liter for gasoline, P13.39 per liter for diesel and P18.20 per liter for kerosene, according to latest data from the Energy department.