Consumers have to brace for another oil price hike this week by as much as P1.40 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world market.
“Expect fuel prices to go up next week (May 19 to May 25). Diesel should increase by P0.50 – P0.60 and gasoline should increase by P1.30-P1.40,” Unioil Philippines said in its weekly price forecast.
World oil prices are on a rebound as China’s demand slowly picks up amid lifting of some restrictions. China is one of the world’s biggest oil consumer.
At the same time, production cut from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its applies helped boost prices.
On Feb. 12, oil firms also raised the price of gasoline by P2 liter, diesel by P1.90 per liter and kerosene by P1.25 per liter.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department does not expect oil firms to impose this week the impact of the imposition of Executive Order No. 113 imposing an additional 10 percent duty on all crude petroleum oil and refined petroleum products.
Data provided by the department showed the additional 10 percent tariff will result in a P0.60 per liter increase for gasoline, P0.84 per liter for diesel and P0.55 per liter for kerosene.
Energy Department director Rino Abad said this week’s oil price increase is not supposed to include the additional import duty as the department wants the oil firms to first consume their previous inventory prior to imposing the additional tariff.
“We will question if they will impose net week…There is an agreement that there will be 15 days minimum from May 6,” Abad said.
The government is expected to generate P6.783 billion from the imposition of Executive Order No. 113 which was issued on May 2 to augment government resources to finance programs and measures to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.