Fuel prices increased by up to P1.40 per liter effective May 16

MANILA  -The four-week streak of fuel price rollbacks will end Tuesday, May 16, as local oil companies announced price increases of up to P1.40 per liter.

In separate advisories, oil firms said they would hike pump prices of gasoline by 35 centavos per liter, diesel by P1.40 per liter and kerosene by P1.20 per liter on Tuesday.

Shell and Seaoil will implement the price adjustments at 6 a.m.

The series of rollbacks ended after a month as global demand grew while companies raced to shore up supply of petroleum products, Rino Abad, director of the Department of Energy (DOE) – Oil Industry Management Bureau, said in a radio interview.

Abad added, however, that the price hike may continue only until next week.

On May 9, oil companies treated motorists with big rollbacks, slashing the prices of gasoline by P2.20 per liter, diesel by P2.70 per liter and kerosene by P2.55 per liter.

These resulted in a year-to-date net decrease for diesel at P7.05 per liter and kerosene at P7.50 per liter, the DOE said.

Gasoline, meanwhile, had a net increase of P3.85 per liter.