Oil firms offer holiday fuel price cuts
By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:11:00 12/26/2007
MANILA, Philippines--Oil companies are giving motorists another reason to celebrate by slashing the prices of gasoline by P1 a liter and those of diesel and kerosene by 50 centavos a liter up to the end of the year.
Eastern Petroleum Corp. initiated the promo at 2 p.m. Wednesday, prompting refiners Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. to offer the same price cuts "in selected competitive trading areas.''
In a telephone interview, Shell general manager for external affairs Roberto Kanapi said market forces would continue to dictate the prices of its products.
For his part, Eastern Petroleum chair and chief executive Fernando Martinez said in a separate interview that if international prices would stabilize in the coming days, the oil firm would likely retain its discounted fuel prices and not revert to the old prices.
According to data from the Department of Energy, the regional benchmark Dubai crude slightly dropped to $84.93 a barrel in the first 19 days of December from $86.87 a barrel last month. In October, Dubai crude price was pegged at $77.12 a barrel.
The price of unleaded gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark for refined petroleum products fell to an average of $97.52 a barrel as of Dec. 19 from the November average of $100.29 a barrel. The average price was placed at only $88.71 in October.
MOPS-based diesel likewise went down to an average of $108.03 a barrel in the Dec. 1-19 period, from an average of $110.19 a barrel last month. October's average was placed at $95.47 a barrel.
Excluding the discounts, prices of premium unleaded gasoline range between P42.53 and P45.77 a liter, of diesel between P35.41 and P38.53 a liter, and of kerosene between P39.80 and P44.30 a liter. All prices are inclusive of the 12-percent value-added tax.
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