The oil firms cut pump prices starting 12:01am Tuesday by P0.55 per liter of kerosene, P0.35 per liter of diesel and P0.10 per liter of gasoline.
“Effective 12:01AM Mar 9, 2021, Caltex (CPI) will decrease fuel prices of Platinum by P0.10 per liter, Silver by P0.10 per liter, diesel by P0.35 per liter and kerosene by P0.55 per liter,” the company said in its advisory.
Other oil companies implemented the same level of price cuts starting at 6am Tuesday.
Aside from Caltex, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines, CleanFuel, PetroGazz and Seaoil Philippines also cut their prices while the other oil companies were expected to follow suit.
The rollback ended several weeks of consecutive weekly oil price hikes after traders reacted to the decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to maintain production cuts for April.
Traders were expecting an increase in production output that would boost prices amid the anticipation of a global economic recovery.
Over the weekend, Unioil Philippines announced that consumes could expect fuel prices to go down this week.
Unioil was expecting diesel prices to go down by P0.40 to P0.50 per liter and gasoline by P0.10 per liter.
With the rollback, the year-to-date adjustments now stand at a net increase of P6.10 per liter of gasoline, P5.35 per liter of diesel and P4.50 per liter of kerosene.
On March 2, the oil companies raised the price of gasoline by P1 per liter, diesel by P0.85 per liter and kerosene by P0.70 per liter.
According to a report by S&P Global Platts on Friday, the decision of OPEC and its allies “delivered a blow to many market participants who hoped for an overall increase in output, to push crude prices higher.”
S&P Global Platts said OPEC and its allies were concerned over the ongoing economic volatility due to the coronavirus pandemic arising from the uneven vaccine rollout and possible additional strict lockdowns.