Oil prices mixed; gasoline, kerosene rates cut, diesel prices to go up
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Oil firms are implementing mixed adjustments in fuel products, citing international price movements.
Petron and Shell will roll back gasoline prices by P0.45 per liter and kerosene prices by P0.10 per liter. The country’s leading oil players will raise diesel prices, however, by P0.10 per liter starting 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, March 25.
PTT Philippines is cutting gasoline prices by P0.45 per liter and increasing diesel by P0.10 per liter from 12:01 a.m. March 25. Phoenix Petroleum is cutting gasoline prices by P0.45 per liter and increasing diesel by P0.10 per liter from 6 a.m. March 25.
Other oil firms have not made official announcements but are expected to follow suit as nearly all fuel products sold in the Philippines are imported and are subject to similar price factors.
Year-to-date, there is a net decrease of P0.50 per liter at most in gasoline prices while diesel will have had a net decrease of P1.25 per liter this week from March 18 onwards.
Analysts said the depreciating peso failed to drive a solid increase in domestic prices as various oil price benchmarks in the world extend losses from two previous weeks amid rising crude supplies and slowing demand.
On Thursday last week, U.S. oil prices reportedly slid below $100 a barrel amid a stronger dollar on optimism the Federal Reserve interest rate hike would come sooner-than-expected.
A combination of geopolitical events in Syria, Libya, and Nigeria, and recently Russia and Ukraine, have so far prevented any significant price slide. However, in the short term, analysts said the overall picture has been pointing to a downward trend.
Analysts pointed to other factors: an overall slowness in Chinese economic expansion, coupled with perceptions of oversupply. Analysts cited a recent drop in the Chinese currency and falling metal (copper, iron ore) prices as indications of slower growh in China, which rivals the U.S. as the largest oil consumer in the world.
Originally posted at 1:16 pm, Monday, March 24, 2014
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