By MYRNA M. VELASCO
Local oil companies will increase prices by P2 this week.
Gasoline will increase by P1.90 to P2.10 per liter while diesel will go up by P1.70 to P1.90 per liter.
Kerosene will increase by a leaner P1 to P1.20 per liter, based on the calculations of the oil companies that observed price swings in the world market.
Industry players qualified that the estimated price hikes – usually implemented on a Tuesday – do not include the cost-impact yet of the newly enforced higher duty of 10 percent on imported crude and finished petroleum products.
For the increased duty, the estimate is that this will likely inflate pump prices by an additional P1 per liter and this may already kick off this week.
International prices recovered last week after hitting all-time lows in the previous weeks and this was a development most awaited by the massively beaten global oil and gas sector.
As of end trading in the world market last Thursday, Dubai crude, which is the benchmark for Asian markets, hovered at $27 per barrel while international pricing reference Brent crude relatively surged to $30 per barrel.
Corresponding to the mandate of Executive Order No. 113 that was issued by President o Duterte last week, the Bureau of Customs has issued a memorandum circular on how the higher duty shall be levied on oil product imports.
The Customs bureau stipulated that crude and refined petroleum products, “regardless of the country origin, which are entered and withdrawn from warehouses in the Philippines for consumption, shall be subject to a temporary additional import duty of 10 percent, on top of their existing most favored nation and preferential import duties.”
The BoC also emphasized that “for petroleum products covered under the fuel marking program of the bureau, all district and port collectors must ensure that the additional 10 percent import duties as provided by EO 113 are assessed, levied, and paid prior to fuel marking.”
