4 oil firms hike pump prices Tuesday

AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—For the third straight week, local oil companies jacked up prices of petroleum products Tuesday morning, to reflect the uptrend in global oil prices last week.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp., Total Philippines and Seaoil Philippines have hiked prices of premium gasoline by P1.80 a liter, regular gasoline by P1.65 a liter, kerosene by P1.30 a liter and of diesel by P1 to P1.20 per liter.

Oil companies chose to make their respective announcements to media starting 12 a.m. on Tuesday.

Prior to this week’s oil price hike, diesel prices ranged from P37.90 to P41.79 a liter while gasoline was selling for P46.20-P53.77 a liter.

The adjustment that took effect on Tuesday is expected to further shrink the year-to-date net decrease in the prices of gasoline and diesel, which stood at P1.37 a liter and P3.16 a liter, respectively, as of last week.

According to the Department of Energy (DoE), investors and analysts are now finding it hard to figure the price trend in the near term given the “mixed views of the global economy.”

“China and other emerging economies seem to be using more oil but those increases are offset by weaker [oil] demand in the US, the world’s biggest oil consumer, and in Europe, which continues to struggle with massive government debts,” a DoE report said.