Gasoline, diesel pump prices up starting Tuesday



MANILA, Philippines — Oil firms are raising pump prices this week amid a stronger dollar and a storage rush in the international market.

In separate advisories, oil firms have announced they will increase prices by P0.95 per liter for gasoline and P0.55 per liter for diesel on Tuesday, March 10.

 Shell and Seaoil have said their adjustments will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 10.

Minor oil player Phoenix Petroleum has said it will impose similar adjustments from 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

Other oil firms have not made official announcements but are expected to raise prices similarly since most of the refined petroleum products retailed in the country are imported.

With such adjustments, gasoline prices have so far increased by P1.90 per liter and diesel prices have increased by P0.20 per liter since the start of 2015.

Last week, oil prices were mixed: diesel prices dropped by P0.40 per liter, kerosene was down by P0.80 per liter, and gasoline up by P0.15 per liter.

Industry sources said the price increase has been partly due to a strong dollar, which held up on an upbeat U.S. jobs report and rose against the euro as the European Central Bank prepared a massive stimulus program.

With oil price hikes getting more frequent recently, public utility jeepney drivers and operators are getting ready to call for fare hikes after more than six months of declines. Marked by oil price rollbacks, the second half of 2014 until early 2015 saw a relatively quiet transport sector and some price reductions in jeepney fares, as well as a provisional reduction in the flagdown or basic rate of taxis (to P30 from P40) from March 9.