Local petroleum companies raised prices for the second consecutive week attributed to the United States Federal Reserve’s announcement last week of an upbeat economic outlook that could boost oil demand.
According to the Department of Energy, the latest average Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON95) is at P62.20, diesel at P49.17 and kerosene, P51.74.
Seaoil and Caltex increased per liter prices by P0.55 on both gasoline and diesel and P0.70 on kerosene.
Clean Fuel adjusted prices of gasoline and diesel by P0.55.
Some oil companies, however, introduced promos and discounts in Visayas and Mindanao to help consumers deal with the effects of Typhoon Odette.
Seaoil said 97 of its stations in Visayas and Mindanao will implement per liter discounts of P4 on gasoline and P2 on diesel starting yesterday until the end of the month.
Phoenix Petroleum said it will not implement the hikes in provinces hit by Odette.
As of December 14, year-to-date adjustments on fuel prices summed up to a net increase of P17.30 per liter for gasoline, P14.40 per liter for diesel and P11.69 per liter for kerosene.
Reuters reported that as of Friday last week, Brent crude futures settled at $73.52 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude ended at $70.86 a barrel.
The report also quoted analysts’ explanation that increase in crude prices were driven by the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) announcement that product supplied by refineries surged to 23.2 million barrels per day during the second week of December.
The EIA also reported American crude stocks fell by 4.6 million barrels as Saudi Arabia crude oil exports in October rose for a sixth straight month, indicating that fuel demand is still better than last year despite the threat of the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus disease 2019.
However, the gains were supposed to be higher if not for the warning of the EIA that a possible crude supply surplus may again be felt next year. – Jed Macapagal
