Oil firms hike pump prices

Pump prices of petroleum products saw hefty increases on Tuesday morning amid the depreciation of the peso against the dollar even as movements in the global market in the previous week remained “relatively stable.”

Starting 6 a.m. Tuesday, prices of gasoline went up by P1.50 a liter and of diesel by P1.20 a liter.

As of press time, oil companies that announced plans to raise prices included Pilipinas Shell, Flying V, Phoenix Petroleum, Eastern Petroleum, Unioil, PTT and Seaoil.

Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) show that in Metro Manila, the latest price changes would mean that the widely patronized gasoline variant—with an octane rating of 95—would range from P35.90 to P44.89 a liter at the pump.

Prices of the regular diesel variant would range from P26.95 to P30.42 a liter.

Based on DOE monitoring, average prices of Dubai crude dipped for the third consecutive week in the Nov. 14-18 trading.

The DOE said this happened amid a continued failure among exporting countries to cut production although there was rising optimism the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would reach an agreement to do so at its meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.