Local oil firms to reduce diesel, kerosene prices Tuesday

MANILA, Philippines – Local oil companies will slash prices of kerosene by 40 centavos a liter and of diesel by 30 centavos a liter on Tuesday to reflect the continued softening of oil prices in the international market.

Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Chevron Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Seaoil Philippines and Total Philippines on Monday made their respective announcements for a price rollback for the 12th consecutive week.

Currently, these companies are retailing diesel products for P37.50 a liter to P40.25 a liter while gasoline prices ranged from P43.65 a liter to P51.27 a liter.

As of June 26, the year-to-date net decrease in the prices gasoline and diesel continued to climb to P3.92 a liter and P4.76 a liter, respectively.

A report by the Department of Energy cited analysts as saying that the primary reason for the oil price downtrend was the “growing signs of weakness in the world economy, referring to the debt crisis in  Europe and deteriorating economic data in the US, China and other parts of the world.”

These, according to them, translate to a generally weak world oil demand.

The slowdown in business activities in the said economies was supported by recent news reports disclosing that a survey of Chinese manufacturers saw a decline in the number of export orders, while the manufacturing index in Europe remained at a three-year low, the DOE report stated.

In the US, manufacturing index also dropped, coupled with increased jobless claims, which suggested less improvement in the labor market. Hence, oil prices are expected to soften further in the short term.