BY MYRNA VELASCO
As anticipated, Filipino motorists filling up gasoline products on their vehicles will need to shell out extra cash this week, as the price of this commodity will increase by P0.60 per liter.
The oil firms similarly announced that the cost of diesel products will be marginally up by P0.10 per liter; while there will be no change for kerosene products.
In fact for diesel, the calculation of some firms on the price adjustment anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) was just at a range of P0.04 to P0.05 per liter; but actual increase had been maximized at P0.10 per liter.
The price adjustments of the oil firms will be effective Tuesday, August 18; and the players that already sent notices on cost movements had been Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Seaoil, Cleanfuel and PetroGazz.
And since majority of the industry players are now leaning on importation of finished petroleum products following Shell’s announcement last week on its business model shift, the Department of Energy (DoE) has been prodded on more vigilant price monitoring in the industry — so competitive sway would redound to benefits of consumers; and not tilted to avidity for profits of the oil companies. (Myrna M. Velasco)
