OIL companies have calculated another massive-scale price hikes of close to P6.00 per liter at the petroleum pumps, primarily for diesel and kerosene products, next week.
Based on figures crunched by the industry players from the outcome of whole week trading in the international market, diesel will have a price shock of P5.80 to P6.10 per liter; while kerosene products will have an uptick P5.75 to P5.95 per liter.
For gasoline products, the estimated price hike will be at the magnitude of P1.15 to P1.35 per liter, which is still considerably substantial if reckoned on recent adjustments.
Based on last week’s Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) indices, gasoline prices had been up by $2.86 per barrel; diesel prices by $14.43 per barrel; and kerosene by $14.04 per barrel amid the Philippine peso depreciation versus the US dollar by P0.19 to P56.09 from the previous week’s average of P55.89.
Prior to the anticipated round of pump price hikes next week, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that the range of diesel prices in various parts of the country had been at P67.80 to P78.40 per liter; gasoline at P65.00 to P83.60 per liter; while kerosene prices range from P72.99 to P84.90 per liter.
Relative to the weekly swing of prices, the DOE similarly reported that cost movements since the start of the year still incurred net increases of P31.70 per liter for diesel; P27.10 per liter for kerosene; and P18.15 per liter for gasoline commodities.
When prices at the domestic pumps had been on rollbacks for seven weeks, Filipino consumers were having pipe dream that they may still experience prices hovering around the pre-pandemic level, but as global prices wobble anew into another round of rally, hopes are dashed when it comes to continued price downtrends.
As of last week’s trading, international benchmark Brent crude climbed back to $101 per barrel, a big jump from its prior week’s collapse to $94 per barrel; while Dubai crude, which is the reference pricing for Asian markets, had been relatively steady at $96 per barrel.
According to industry experts, one of the factors which triggered the fresh wave of upswing in prices had been the new round of uncertainty on the Iran nuclear deal malaise – as Tehran was reportedly unhappy with the current terms of the negotiations.
The tightening of supply in oil markets had likewise been troubled by the pronouncement of the United States that it will be holding back on its export of petroleum products, primarily to South America and the European countries which are now building up inventories for their winter needs.
On the geopolitical front, oil-producer Iraq had raised threats on transactions that buyers and sellers of oil will be having if they will continue to deal with the breakaway government of Kurdish, and that is seen as another factor exerting pressure on available supply in markets. (with reports from Myrna M. Velasco)
