Oil companies will reduce diesel and kerosene prices by P1.80 to P2 per liter this week due to the continued steep plunge in prices in the world market.
For gasoline products, the initial calculation of the industry players will just be a marginal price cut in the range of P0.10 to P0.30 per liter.
The oil companies have qualified though that the estimates have been based on the outcome of four-day trading in the world market, and these may still change depending on price trends as of last Friday’s trading.
A further crash in prices has been pummeling oil markets as the benchmark WTI crude for the US market tumbled to the feared $15 per barrel territory in recent trading days, while Brent crude was at $21 per barrel, and Dubai crude as pricing reference for the Asian market leveled at $28 per barrel.
The crash-dive in prices would still not fully benefit Filipino consumers though – especially for those in the major economic centers of the country as the government had decided anew to extend the COVID-19-linked enhanced community quarantine for key areas until May 15.
Oil consumption in the Philippines had dropped by roughly 60 percent since the Luzon-wide lockdown was implemented on March 15, and the trend is seen to continue until mid-May with the stretched ECQ period.
The International Energy Agency signaled that global oil demand may plunge by a record nine million barrels per day this year, and that figure could “erase almost a decade’s worth of growth.”
As signified by the energy think -tank, “April is expected to be the bleakest month for the industry, with demand set to plummet by 29 million barrels a day compared to the same month last year.”
The IEA conveyed that “the plunge in demand would be even more damaging for the industry and the millions of people it employs around the world without the historic recent steps announced by the OPEC + and the G20 countries.” (Myrna Velasco)