Oil firms hike pump prices of fuel

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — After the past few weeks’ rollback of fuel prices at the pump, the oil companies decided Tuesday it was time to raise prices again.

Petron, Shell, Chevron, and Seaoil implemented price hikes of P0.65 per liter for gasoline, P0.25 per liter for diesel, and P0.15 per liter for kerosene at 6 a.m. Tuesday, September 2.

Phoenix Petroleum, TOTAL, and PTT Philippines implemented similar adjustments for gasoline and diesel also at 6 a.m. on September 2.

Market expectations of the price increases had ranged from P0.20 to P0.50 per liter for diesel and from P0.50 to P0.75 per liter for gasoline.

The increases followed seven weeks of rollbacks for gasoline and two weeks of reductions for diesel products. So far, the year-to-date total fuel price adjustments stand at a net decrease of P2.15 per liter for gasoline and P3.15 per liter for diesel.

Meanwhile, Petron rolled back  the price of of LPG for the month of September by P0.70 per kilogram and autoLPG by of P0.39 per liter. The price cut, which is VAT inclusive, was implemented also at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Isla LPG Corp. said it would cut the price of Solane LPG by P0.68 per kilogram, VAT inclusive, 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, September 3.

The upward adjustments in the prices of gasoline and diesel come amid supply concerns due to renewed tensions in the Middle East, indications of demand recovery due to growth data from the U.S., and a spot order of 600,000 barrels of oil from Indonesia due to a sudden surge in consumer demand last week.

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