AFTER six consecutive weeks of drops, oil prices are up as global costs rose on reports the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allied countries are close to signing a new output cut.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the latest average Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON95) is at P38.87, diesel at P31.03 and kerosene at P30.27.
Shell and Seaoil adjusted the prices of gasoline and diesel upward by P0.55 and P0.15 per liter, respectively, but cut the cost of kerosene by P0.20 per liter.
Phoenix and PTT implemented an increase of P0.55 per liter for gasoline and P0.15 per liter for diesel.
The DOE said as of April 1, year-to-date adjustments stood at a net decrease of P14.72 per liter for gasoline, P13.39 per liter for diesel and P18.20 per liter for kerosene.
Reuters reported that as of Thursday last week, Brent crude settled at $31.48 per barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude ended at $22.76 a barrel.
OPEC, Russia and other oil producing nations agreed over the weekend to cut output by a record amount of 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) representing around 10 percent of global supply for May to June to support oil prices amid the drop in demand due to COVID-19.
However, Goldman Sachs said that a 10 million bpd cut is not enough to boost prices as “the size of the demand shock is simply too large for a coordinated supply cut, setting the stage for a severe rebalancing.”
In a note dated April 8, the bank expressed that a 10 million bpd cut would still require an additional 4 million bpd of supply reduction by shutting down production due to low prices.
