AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Oil firms announced their first price hike for the year as fuel demand recovered following three straight weeks of decline.
Petron, Shell, and Seaoil said they implemented a P0.60-per-liter increase for diesel, P0.55 increase for kerosene, and P0.45 per liter increase for gasoline. Petron and Shell did so from 6 a.m. Tuesday, Jan 28. Seaoil’s adjustment comes a day later, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29.
PTT Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, and TOTAL Philippines implemented similar price hikes for diesel and gasoline from 6 a.m. Tuesday, January 28.
The oil firms said the price changes “reflect movements in the international oil market.”
Other oil firms have not officially announced price changes but are expected to since fuel retailers tend to track each other’s adjustments. The Philippines imports most of its fuel products. This makes it highly vulnerable to international oil price movements.
Factoring in the first price hike for the year, the year to date decrease for major fuel products was trimmed to P0.85/L for diesel and P0.40/L for gasoline.
A strong dollar and positive Asian trade for crude last week supported fuel prices. Demand for refined oil products has recovered in the U.S., which is among the world’s top crude consumers, with supplies of heating oil and diesel reportedly dropping sharply.
Robust housing data and on-target industrial output forecasts also helped shore up expectations of recovering fuel demand.
The first set of price cuts was implemented on Jan 7. with kerosene prices trimmed by P0.25 per liter and diesel prices by P0.45 per liter. At the time, when diesel stockpiles were high and U.S. weather seemed too cold for venturing outdoors to drive gasoline sales, the winter market for fuel weakened.
Another round of price drops was implemented on Jan. 13, with diesel prices cut by P0.90 per liter, gasoline by P0.85/L, and kerosene by P1.10/L amid persistently weak fuel demand.
The third-straight weekly drop for 2014 was implemented on Jan 21, when oil firms rolled back prices by P0.10 per liter for diesel and by P0.35/L for kerosene.
RELATED STORY
Higher gas, diesel prices seen this week