Oil firms to raise gas, LPG prices by Tuesday

Oil firms are implementing a new round of increases for motor fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

AFP FILE PHOTO

Petron, Shell, Chevron, Seaoil, Phoenix Petroleum, Eastern Petroleum, PTT Philippines, TOTAL and others are set to raise pump prices by 95 centavos per liter for gasoline, 65 centavos per liter for diesel, and 50 centavos for kerosene starting Tuesday, May 5, according to industry sources.

Petron said it would raise LPG prices for the month of May. It implemented a 20-centavos-per-kilogram increase in the price of the 11-kilogram LPG tanks and increased by 11 cents per liter the price of AutoLPG from May 1. The company has not officially announced its gasoline, diesel, and kerosene adjustments as of press time.

Other LPG retailers are expected to implement similar if not the same level of price adjustments.

Oil firms are expected to make similar adjustments since almost all the fuel retailed in the country are imported and therefore subject to similar market conditions.

Excluding this week’s adjustments, prices of gasoline have grown by P3.07 per liter while that of diesel increased by P0.39 per liter since January 2015.

Oil prices seem to be returning to its former levels, according to industry analysts. Last year, the sharp oil price fall from $100 to below $80 last summer hit small U.S. oil producers who need at least $80 per barrel to be profitable. Oil prices appear to be in the $82 per barrel levels again, according to reports.

The U.S. drilling rig count has fallen to its lowest level since 2010, and oil companies have laid off thousands of workers, contributing to a 3.4 percent decline in overall business investment in the first quarter. SFM/AU