Pump prices of petroleum products seen to increase beginning of August

Bad news will likely greet motorists at the beginning of August as local oil firms expect the pump prices of petroleum products to increase by as much as P2.60 per liter on Tuesday, Aug. 1.

Industry sources said that based on last week’s trading in the world market, the price of gasoline may climb by P1.70 per liter, while diesel prices could spike by P2.60 per liter.

The price of kerosene, meanwhile, may also see an increase beyond the P2 mark, according to Rino Abad, director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau.

Abad explained that this was due to the US and European Central Bank rate hikes not making it in time to mitigate the impact of Saudi Arabia’s production cuts.

“Unfortunately, trading price in the global market kept increasing last week,” the official said in a radio interview.

This will mark the third consecutive week of price hikes for gasoline, and the fourth straight week for diesel and kerosene.

Last week, oil companies raised the price of gasoline by P1.35 per liter, diesel by 45 centavos per liter, and kerosene by 35 centavos per liter.

This resulted in a year-to-date net decrease of 40 centavos per liter for diesel and P3.35 per liter for kerosene, the DOE said. Gasoline, on the other hand, had a net increase of P8.90 per liter.

READ: Oil companies raise prices of diesel, gasoline anew