The country’s oil firms have raised pump prices by P1.25 per liter for gasoline, P1.10 per liter for diesel, and P0.75 per liter for kerosene effective 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines, Seaoil Philippines, PetroGazz and Cleanfuel issued separate advisories of their latest price hikes. Other oil companies are expected to follow suit.
This is the sixth successive weekly increase for diesel and kerosene and the second consecutive weekly increase for gasoline.
Meanwhile, Pilipinas Shell also announced that “additional cost on EO 113 will be implemented on a per station basis starting June 17 as acknowledged by Department of Energy.”
Executive Order 113 imposes an additional 10 percent duty on all crude petroleum oil and refined petroleum products, to augment government resources and finance programs and measures to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic “and launch the country towards recovery and rehabilitation.”
Data provided by the department showed that 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.
It will also increase LPG by P1.82 per liter, jet fuel by P0.55 per liter, and fuel oil by P0.66 per liter.
On June 9, oil companies also implemented an price oil price hike of P1.75 per liter for gasoline, P1.10 per liter for diesel and P1 per liter for kerosene.
Prior to Tuesday’s oil price hike, total year-to-date adjustments led to a net decrease of P7.97 per liter for gasoline, P11.09 per liter for diesel, and P14.44 per liter for kerosene.
World oil prices have been going up in recent weeks after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies agreed to cut production starting July amid a slowdown in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to reports gathered by the Energy Department, OPEC and its oil-producing allies agreed on June 6 to extend its production cut of 9.6 million barrels per day until end of July to stem the downward spiral of oil prices.
OPEC will review the production cut on a monthly basis and a meeting is set for June 18. Anticipation of continuing production cuts has been sending oil prices higher but uncertainty remains for the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, as countries ease their lockdowns resulting to a recovery in demand, refineries in Asia are gradually raising its operating levels although margins are still far from pre-COVID-19 levels.