By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, August 10 (PNA) – Oil firms will reduce pump prices of gas and diesel products by 45 centavos per liter on Tuesday (August 11).
In separate advisories on Monday, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (PSPC), Seaoil Philippines Inc. (SPI), Petron Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Eastern Petroleum Corp. and PTT Philippines said they will rollback their gasoline and diesel prices by 45 centavos.
PSPC, SPI and Petron Corp. will also cut their kerosene prices by Php 1.00 per liter.
The three firms will apply the price movements at 12:01 a.m., while Phoenix Petroleum and PTT Philippines will change prices at 6 a.m.
Eastern Petroleum Corp., on the other hand, said it will apply the rollbacks at 6 p.m. this Monday.
According to the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) oil price monitor, diesel has a prevailing price of Php 24.40-27.65 per liter and a common price of Php 25.15 per liter around Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, the DOE said gasoline has a prevailing price of Php 38.77-44.92 per liter, with a common price of Php 43.42 per liter.
For the year, gasoline has seen a net increase of Php 2.16 per liter and diesel a net decrease of Php 3.39 per liter.
Eastern Petroleum chairman and chief executive officer Fernando Martinez explained in a statement that the oversupply situation and downward trend in world oil prices continue to pressure local pump prices to go down further.
Martinez also shared analysts belief that world oil prices will rebound towards the end of the year at an average of USD 60-69 per barrel, which is currently around USD 43 per barrel to USD 48 per barrel (for September delivery) as of August 10.
Goldman Sachs estimated that there is currently an oversupply of 2 million barrels per day in the global market, compared to the excess 1.8 million barrels during the previous semester this year.
Last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that U.S. crude production have increased by 52,000 barrels just over a week. (PNA)