Shell, Chevron hike gasoline prices effective Tuesday

OIL PRICE HIKES An employee fills the tank of a car at a petrol station in Quezon City in this AFP file photo. Pilipinas Shell and Chevron Philippines announced on Monday, December 5, 2011, that they are jacking up prices of unleaded gasoline and regular gasoline effective Tuesday to reflect movements in world oil prices. AFP PHOTO/JAY DIRECTO

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Philippines Inc. have jacked up the prices of unleaded gasoline by 80 centavos a liter and regular gasoline by 85 centavos a liter to reflect movements in world oil prices.

Both firms reduced kerosene prices by 30 centavos a liter, while keeping diesel prices unchanged. The price adjustments took effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

According to the Department of Energy’s price monitoring, the price of the regional benchmark Dubai crude dropped for the most part of last week, declining by an average of $3 a barrel in the week from November 28 to December 2.

Prices of gasoline and diesel based on the Mean of Platts Singapore benchmark for refined petroleum products likewise declined by $3.20 and $3.73 a barrel, respectively.

At around mid-week, however, news of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program caused prices to slightly go up. This was tempered by the impact of the European debt crisis and slow manufacturing activity in China.

But the start of this week saw prices inch up again, prompting local oil firms to reflect these increases at the pump.

With this new price adjustment, the prices of gasoline now ranged from P48.45 to P55.35 a liter, while that of diesel remained at the P43.24-P46.83-a-liter range.

Originally posted: 9:32 pm | Monday, December 5th, 2011