Oil firms announce rollback effective Sunday

MANILA, Philippines – Local oil companies have slashed fuel prices effective Sunday to reflect the continued downtrend in oil prices in the international market last week.

Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Seaoil Philippines announced that they had cut prices of premium gasoline by 65 centavos a liter, regular gasoline by 50 centavos a liter, diesel by 40 centavos a liter, and of kerosene, by 25 centavos a liter.

Other oil firms have yet to make their respective announcements.

Prior to this week’s rollback, prices of gasoline ranged from P54.05 a liter to P61.02 a liter, while diesel  prices hovered between P44.99 a liter and P49.24 a liter.

As of April 17, the year-to-date net increase in the prices of diesel and gasoline stood at P2.54 a liter and P5.85 a liter, respectively.

According to the oil monitor report of the Department of Energy, global oil prices, particularly that of the Dubai crude, were dragged down by prospects of weaker crude demand from China, and also due to renewed worries about the eurozone’s debt woes and weaker oil demand in the United States.

Talks between Iran and six world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program partly pulled prices lower as it helped ease concerns over crude supplies.

The meeting that was held on April 14, the first in 15 months, was said to have a positive atmosphere as both parties likely desire for substantive progress, the report stated.