Consumers can expect a hefty oil price rollback next week—April 28 to May 4—of as much as P1.70 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world market.
Diesel should go down by P1.60 to P1.70 per liter. Gasoline should go down by P0.20 – P0.30 per liter, Unioil Philippines said in its advisory.
Sources, however, said the oil firms would likely raise cooking gas prices on May 1.
Total year-to-date adjustments now stand at net decrease of P15.07 per liter for gasoline, P15.09 per liter for diesel and P19.75 per liter for kerosene, according to the Energy department.
According to the department, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries expects global oil demand to drop by 6.8 million barrels per day in 2020 to 92.82 MMB per day with April having the biggest contraction at about 20 MMB/D.
It noted that the International Energy Agency projected global oil demand to fall by a record 9.3 MMB/D this year as governments implemented lockdowns to keep the economy at a near standstill.
The IEA further projected that demand for crude would drop in April by 29 MMB/D, equivalent to 29 percent of the world’s 100 MMB/D oil demand figure from 2019.
OPEC and its allies and G20 countries earlier agreed to an overall production cut of 9.7 MMB per day starting in May and June, down from the 10 MMB/D originally and gradually reducing the cuts through April 2022.
On April 21, the oil companies rolled back prices by P0.55 per liter for gasoline, P1.15 per liter for diesel, and P0.60 per liter for kerosene.