Emerging major player Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. yesterday rolled back petroleum prices by P1 per liter for gasoline and P0.80 per liter for diesel.
The oil firm of Davao City businessman Dennis Uy implemented price cuts effective 12 noon.
And with the pricing reduction lead it has kicked off, it is anticipated that the rest of the players in the deregulated downstream oil industry will follow today until Tuesday.
Prior to this rollback, the prevailing prices of gasoline in Metro Manila had been P51.45 to P64.41 per liter; diesel at P41.85 to P49.25 per liter; and kerosene at P46.39 to P56.60 per liter.
Global oil prices were on downward swing since latter part of trading days around end of April following US President Donald Trump’s claim that he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to bring down oil prices.
Market speculations are also swirling that the “price rebalancing strategy” on production cuts of the alliance of OPEC and the Russian-led producers may finally see its end during their meeting in Vienna, Austria next month.
That will lead the global oil market into a free fall, and the general expectation of market analysts will be for prices to suffer from fresh round of price crash that may reach $40 per barrel price level given the tough competition that US production has been driving markets. (Myrna Velasco)
