With the seesaw in prices in the world market, pump prices in the Philippines will just have a very marginal rollback starting this weekend at P0.15 per liter for gasoline, P0.30 per liter for diesel, and P0.30 per liter for kerosene products.
Phoenix Petroleum Phil. Inc. returned to the track as the price rollback initiator effective 6 a.m. Saturday along with another independent player Seaoil Phil.
As has always been the routine on price adjustments, the other industry players follow the lead of their competitors, thus, the other oil companies are anticipated to also roll back their prices on or before Tuesday.
Prior to this week’s adjustment, the average prices of gasoline in Metro Manila had been at P41.70 to P56 per liter, according to the monitoring of the Department of Energy.
For diesel, prices had been at P36.45 to P43.83 per liter, while the cost of kerosene had been averaging at P41.57 to P51.65 per liter.
The Energy department attributed price swings in the recent decision of oil producers to impose production cutback, hence, the rally in prices in the first week of December.
In last week’s trading, however, global prices reverted to the softer pace, hence, the price rollbacks that the local oil companies will be implementing from this weekend through the coming days.
Filipino consumers enjoyed rollbacks of straight two months in October and November, but volatility will be “a bit of a game” in the world market this December, as assessed by market watchers and industry analysts.
The unremitting fluctuation of the Philippine currency versus the US dollar will also continually contribute to the cost movements of petroleum products on the domestic scene. (Myrna Velasco)
