4 oil firms raise prices

MANILA, Philippines—Local oil companies again raised Thursday prices of petroleum products to reflect the continued uptrend of oil prices in the global market.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Total Philippines raised prices of regular gasoline by 85 centavos a liter, premium gasoline by 60 centavos a liter, kerosene by 30 centavos a liter, and of diesel, by 20 centavos a liter.

Petron Corp. and Chevron Philippines also made the same price adjustments except for kerosene prices, which they jacked up by 25 centavos a liter. Petron likewise announced that it had hiked the prices of its cooking gas by P3 per kilogram or about P33 per 11-kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Prior to this week’s oil price hike, the net increase in the prices for gasoline and diesel since the year started stood at P5.25 a liter and P3 a liter, respectively. As of March 6, diesel prices ranged from P45.50 a liter to P48.50 a liter, while gasoline prices hovered between P53.75 a liter and P60.42 a liter.

In a phone interview, Zenaida Y. Monsada of the Department of Energy’s Oil Industry Management Bureau explained that consecutive fuel price hikes could be attributed still to the conflicts in the Middle East, specifically the tension brewing in Iran, which had threatened to cut off its supply to six European countries before the so-called oil embargo this July.

Iranian lawmakers are pushing a plan to halt crude exports to Europe before the European Union begins an oil embargo on July 1. The embargo is part of a broader strategy by Western nations to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

Also continuing to put pressure on local fuel prices were the increase in the consumption of gasoline by the United States, as seen in its declining stockpile, as well as the depreciation of the peso against the US dollar last week compared to the previous week.