A rollback of up to P3.70 per liter in the prices of petroleum products is expected next week.
Rodela Romero, assistant director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau, said they were expecting price cuts of P1 to P1.20 per liter for gasoline; P3.50 to P3.70 per liter for diesel, and P2.20 to P2.40 per liter for kerosene.
This was based on the monitoring of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) from Nov. 21 to 24.
MOPS, the daily average of all trading transactions of petroleum products in the Singapore trading hub, serves as the benchmark used in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, in pricing fuel products.
Among the reasons cited by Romero for the possible decrease in fuel prices include the tightening of restriction in China due to rising number of COVID-19 cases and the increase in the United States’ crude inventory which resulted in lower demand, as well as the price cap imposed on Russia’s crude.
“Bagamat hindi kagandahan yung kadahilanan kasi ang isang primary reason yun pa ring surge ng COVID sa mainland China (Although this is not good, the surge of COVID-19 cases in mainland China was among the reasons),” said Romero at the Laging Handa public briefing.
“The second reason is the increase in the fuel inventory of the United States increased which translated to lower demand,” she said.
“The other reason for the potential rollback next week if sustained until Friday trading is the price cap on the Russian crude (being considered in G7 countries, among others),” she added.
Last week, local oil firms slashed the selling prices of gasoline by P0.40 per liter, diesel by P2.15 per liter and kerosene by P2.10 per liter.
Cumulative increases per liter stand at a net increase of P17.75 for gasoline, P33.85 for diesel, and P27.85 for kerosene, based on the DOE’s monitoring.