spot_img
27.7 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Pump price hike for 7th time looms

- Advertisement -

Consumers are facing another round of oil price hikes next week of as much as P0.60 per liter to reflect the movement of prices in the world market.

"Expect fuel prices to go up next week (July 6-12, 2021). Diesel will increase by P0.10 per liter. Gasoline will increase by P0.50 to P0.60 per liter," Unioil Petroleum Philippines announced over the weekend.

This will be the seventh consecutive weekly oil price increase as the global economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Demand recovery, buoyed by the decline in the number of COVID-19 cases and an uptick in vaccination, has boosted the market's ability to absorb additional supplies," the Department of Energy said in its monitoring report.

Demand has been going up amid increased travel and strong economic recovery in the US and Europe.

- Advertisement -

World oil prices went up last week due to optimism that demand will exceed supply and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies will be careful in returning more crude to the market from August.

On June 29, domestic oil companies hiked prices P1 per liter for gasoline, P0.65 per liter for diesel and P0.70 per liter for kerosene.

These resulted in year-to-date adjustments at a total net increase of P11.75 per liter for gasoline, P9.90 per liter for diesel, and P8.40 per liter for kerosene.

Meanwhile, the DOE issued Department Circular (DC) No. 2021-06-0014, or the “Revised Circular for the Accreditation and Submission of

Notices and Reports of the Philippine Downstream Oil Industry Pursuant to the Biofuels Act” after a series of virtual public consultations with the country’s downstream oil industry (DOI) stakeholders.

“This is another testament to the DOE’s firm commitment in ensuring the full compliance of our downstream oil industry players to the Biofuels Act,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said in a statement.

“Adhering to the prescribed blending requirements ultimately redounds to the benefit of our consumers, as it would help secure part of our fuel supply through indigenous biofuel utilization while assisting our coconut and sugarcane farmers in tapping the domestic market created in the process,” he added.

The revised circular reinforces the department’s mandate of strictly monitoring DOI compliance with existing rules and regulations, Cusi said.

Currently, biofuel participants are required to be properly accredited, while the implementation of the mandated blending requirements for own-use or the sale of biofuel blends in the Philippines call for the exhaustion of locally sourced biofuel.

Repealing the 2006 interim guidelines for accreditation of oil industry participants under the Biofuels Program, the circular introduced significant improvements.

They include updated accreditation qualifications and review procedures, updated templates for the notices of importation and local purchases, enhanced reportorial requirements to aid in the reconciliation of critical information relative to the mandatory blending requirements of ethanol and coco methyl ester.

They also consolidate the qualifications, procedures, and reports to facilitate an easier and more efficient tracking process.

This circular will take effect 15 days following its complete publication in two newspapers of general circulation.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles