LOCAL oil players are slashing their prices for the fourth consecutive week effective today, March 24, as global crude continues to plunge after US crude suffered the biggest lost since the Gulf War in 1991.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the latest average Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON95) is at P45.64, diesel at P34.31 and kerosene at P36.31.
Petron, Shell and Seaoil adjusted the prices of gasoline and kerosene by P3.50 per liter and diesel by P2 per liter.
Phoenix implemented a decrease of P3 per liter for gasoline and P2 per liter for diesel.
PTT lowered the cost of gasoline and diesel by P3.50 and P2 per liter, respectively.
The DOE said as of March 18, year-to-date adjustments stand at net drop of P9.35 per liter for gasoline, P11 per liter for diesel and P12.79 per liter for kerosene.
Reuters reported that as of Friday last week, Brent crude futures ended at $26.98 a barrel while US crude futures settled at $22.53 a barrel.
The report said US crude has lost half its value in the past two weeks with Brent already dropping about 40 percent as the pandemic has cut demand at the same time as a collapse of coordinated output cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countrie and allied producers including Russia.
“With the economy continuing to grind more and more to a halt, it’s clear the demand destruction is continuing to grow. Whatever efforts are being made to cut production in the US and capital expenditures, it’s not enough right now,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York was quoted in the same report.
American energy officials expressed plans to send a representative to Saudi Arabia to work on stabilizing energy markets as traders and analysts have revised oil demand forecasts.
In a separate report, Moody’s said the coronavirus outbreak and the related oil price shock will lower sovereigns’ economic and fiscal strength but will increase weaker sovereigns’ vulnerability to shifts in sentiment and expose weaknesses in domestic and international institutions.
The firm currently assumes the COVID-19 crisis, however severe, will be relatively short-lived and that growth will resume in the second half of the year.
