MANILA, Philippines?Local oil companies hiked prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene by P1 a liter beginning Tuesday to reflect the rising prices of petroleum products in the international market.

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

PTT Philippines, meanwhile, said it would implement a P1 increase in pump prices beginning Wednesday.

The companies based their price adjustments on the movements of oil prices last week compared to the previous week.

On a month-to-month basis, however, the price of regional benchmark Dubai crude was lower at $73 a barrel as of June 18, 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 $82 a barrel in the first 18 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 1-18 period, compared to $89 a barrel in May.