Local oil retailers are implementing mixed price adjustments today after a big price rollback last week.
Seaoil raised per liter prices by P0.95 on gasoline and P0.50 on diesel but reduced kerosene by P0.15 per liter.
Clean Fuel and PTT adjusted per liter prices upward by P0.95 on gasoline and P0.50 on diesel.
Today’s adjustments were mainly attributed to the unexpected fall in US consumer prices last December paired with optimistic fuel demand outlook in China.
According to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) data on January 10, the latest average Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON95) is at P65.40, diesel at P63.70 and kerosene at P76.83.
The DOE said year-to-date adjustments stood at a total net increase of P2.15 per liter for gasoline, P0.70 per liter for diesel and P0.95 per liter for kerosene.
Reuters reported that as of Friday last week, Brent crude settled at $84.03 a barrel as US West Texas Intermediate crude ended at $78.39 per barrel.
The same report said another factor that pushed crude prices up is the nearly 9-month low performance of the US dollar against the euro as analysts expect the US Federal Reserve will be less aggressive going forward with rate hikes.
Analysts added the market expects more price hikes as the US Energy Information Administration warned the upcoming European Union (EU) ban on seaborne imports of petroleum products from Russia on February 5 could be more disruptive than the EU ban on seaborne imports of crude oil from Russia implemented in December .
Experts also said the increase in crude prices could have been higher if not for the unexpected jump in US crude oil inventories. – Jed Macapagal
