5 oil firms to slash prices of petroleum products Monday

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Local oil companies are slashing prices of petroleum products effective Monday (Feb. 25) to reflect the softening of oil prices in the global market.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp., Chevron Philippines, Eastern Petroleum and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines have decided to slash prices of regular gasoline by 80 centavos a liter; kerosene by 70 centavos a liter; diesel by 45 centavos a liter; and of premium gasoline by 35 centavos a liter.

On Saturday, independent player Seaoil Philippines implemented a price cut of 40 centavos a liter for premium gasoline and 50 centavos a liter for diesel.

Prior to this week’s price adjustments, prices of diesel ranged from P41.70 to P44.75 a liter, while gasoline retailed for P51.35 to P57.70 a liter, according to a Feb. 19 oil monitor report from the Department of Energy.

As of Feb. 19, the net increase in the prices of gasoline based on price adjustments since the year started stood at P3.40 a liter and for diesel, P2.50 a liter.

The DOE explained that gains in oil prices are being capped by a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which trimmed its world oil demand forecast for 2013 despite signs of recovery in China and the US.

The DOE quoted the IEA as saying that the marginal production cut of about 85,000 barrels a day to 90,000 barrels a day, was in line with the prospect for a slowdown forecast by the International Monetary Fund, which last month  cut its world growth estimate for 2013 to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent.