The country’s oil firm implemented a huge oil price rollback of as much as P2.50 per liter for gasoline effective 6 a.m. Tuesday to reflect the movement of oil prices in the world market.
Phoenix Petroleum Philippines announced the biggest price cut of P2.50 per liter for gasoline and P2 per liter for diesel.
Petro Gazz cut pump prices the same level as Phoenix.
Other oil companies like Chevron Philippines, which markets the Caltex brand implemented a P2.30 per liter rollback for gasoline, P2 per liter rollback for diesel and P1.85 per cut for kerosene.
“Petron will implement the following price rollbacks effective 6 a.m. tomorrow, Nov. 13: P2.30/li for Blaze 100, XCS, and Xtra Advance, P2.00/li for Turbo Diesel and DieselMax, and P1.85/li for kerosene. These reflect movements in the international oil market,” Petron Corp. said.
Petron, PTT Philippines, Seaoil Philippines, and Eastern Petroleum cut prices the same level as Caltex while other oil companies are expected to follow suit.
Unioil Philippines said that since Oct. 15, the price of diesel has decreased by a total P3.10 and the price of gasoline has decreased by a total of P5.55.
From Nov. 4 to 6, most of the oil companies also cut prices with rollbacks ranging from P1 to P1.10 per liter for gasoline, P0.90 to P1 per liter for diesel and P0.65 per liter for kerosene.
READ: Oil price rollback: P1.10/liter
Latest data from the Department of Energy showed diesel costs P43.55 to P48.79 per liter while gasoline prices range from P48.75 to P59.07 per liter.
Year-to-date adjustments are now at a net increase of P3.70 per liter for gasoline, P7.10 per liter for diesel and P6.43 per liter for kerosene.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has called for a global output cut of one million barrels per day to re-balance the market, as Riyadh unveiled plans to cut production by 500,000 bpd from December.
“The technical analysis we reviewed yesterday shows that we need a reduction approaching one million bpd to balance the market,” Khalid al-Falih told an energy conference in Abu Dhabi.
The proposed reduction is from October production levels, Falih said.
Oil prices have shed a fifth of their value over the past month due to oversupply and signs of a softer-than-expected impact from US sanctions on Iranian crude exports.
But they climbed on Monday as the world’s biggest supplier Saudi Arabia announced plans to cut production in response to fears of oversupply.
Falih said Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil supplier, would cut its production by 500,000 bpd as of next month to help stabilise the market.
The 14 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which include Saudi Arabia, alone pump over a third of global crude supply.
Any official decision on global output cuts will be made at a key ministerial meeting for OPEC and non-OPEC producers in Vienna in early December, Falih said.
Oil producers will continue to evaluate the market data prior to the Vienna summit, “but if we need to trim production by one million bpd, we will do,” Falih added.
The UAE’s energy minister, Suhail al-Mazrouei, said balancing the market would “require changes in the strategy” of producers.
“We need not overreact” to falling prices, Mazrouei said, adding that crude was a dynamic market.
Iraqi energy minister spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP his country, also an OPEC member was hoping for “any decision that would help balance and stabilise the market”.
Brent crude dropped below $70 a barrel on Friday for the first time since April but it was trading above $71 a barrel on Monday.
West Texas Intermediate crude also dropped to a nine-month low, below $60 a barrel. It was trading above $61 on Monday.
Khalid al-Falih’s comments followed a meeting in Abu Dhabi at the weekend, where major producers started laying the groundwork to cut supply in 2019, reversing an almost year-long expansion.
The group, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, warned that crude supply would outstrip demand next year.
In a final statement, they said they had “reviewed current oil supply and demand fundamentals and noted that 2019 prospects point to higher supply growth than global requirements”.
That in mind, they vowed to consider “options on new 2019 production adjustments, which may require new strategies to balance the market.”
Falih on Monday said inventories had been building up, adding that “the 25 producers will not allow this to continue” and that they had signalled they would do “whatever it takes to balance the market.”
“We are going to do everything we can to keep inventories and supply-demand fundamentals within a reasonably narrow band around balance,” he said.
READ: No to tax hike—oil players