MANILA, Philippines?Local oil companies have slashed prices of gasoline by P0.50 a liter, and those of diesel and kerosene by P0.25 a liter beginning Tuesday, to reflect the decline in the prices of petroleum products in the international market.

Seaoil Philippines, Petron Corp., Eastern Petroleum and Chevron Philippines were the first to announce their oil price rollbacks on Monday. They were followed by Total Philippines, Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., all of which made their respective advisories only Tuesday.

The companies based their price adjustment on the average oil price last week compared to that of the previous week.

On a month-to-month basis, data from the Department of Energy had shown that the price of regional benchmark Dubai crude was lower at $73 a barrel as of June 15, compared to the $77-a-barrel average in May.

The price of unleaded gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark also fell to an average of $81 a barrel in the first 15 days of the month, from the previous month?s average of $85 a barrel.

Similarly, MOPS-based diesel prices dropped to $85 a barrel in the June 1-15 period, compared to $89 a barrel in May.