Oil prices mixed on U.S. concerns

Oil firms are having mixed adjustments in prices this week following the ups and downs in last week’s trading.

Major oil firms Petron, Shell, and Seaoil are increasing gasoline prices by 20 centavos per liter and kerosene prices by 15 centavos per liter by 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6. They are also expected to roll back diesel prices by 10 centavos per liter at the same time.

Minor oil firm Eastern Petroleum Corp. has announced that it will reduce the price of diesel product by 15 centavos per liter and will increase the price of gasoline prices by P0.15 per liter at 12:01 a.m., Tuesday.

Eastern Petroleum said the latest price adjustments would reflect the current uptrend and downtrend in global gasoline and diesel prices.

“Analysts say the crude oil markets are unlikely to fully rebalance until 2017 at the earliest and will be a major hurdle on the midstream sector,” Eastern Petroleum said.

Last Friday, oil prices rose strongly on early trading amid concerns that Hurricane Joaquin might batter the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Commodity traders feared potential refinery disruption, saying that oil “shortages” could follow.

The rally reversed later as updated forecasts indicated that the storm was just as likely to head out to sea and miss much of the land over the east coast of the U.S. Another factor that put downward pressure on prices was the release of U.S. manufacturing data suggesting more moderate expansion plans among companies compared with the past two years.

Lately, there has been growing sentiment that the price decline since last year may have found a bottom and will not fall further.

However, the moderate U.S. manufacturing expansion numbers added a bearish indicator on consumption amid concern over the slowdown in China, which continues to undermine hopes that the global oil glut might be beginning to turn.

At present levels, oil production remains largely unprofitable, and stakeholders hope prices would escape the downward cycle soon despite bearish sentiments weighing down on demand.