More than P2.00/liter price cut across commodities
AT A GLANCE
- Renewed fears of banking crisis contagion precipitated price slump in trading last week
- Price decline had been compounded by weak industrial figures from China and other geopolitical events
- Markets look forward to outcome of the in-person meeting of OPEC+ by June
Motorists are in for significant financial relief with oil prices on on big time rollback next week due to the downtrend of prices in the world market, according to industry players.
Based on estimates, gasoline prices will be trimmed by P2.10 to P2.40 per liter; while diesel prices will have heftier reduction of P2.60 to P2.90 per liter.
For kerosene, a key fuel commodity for households and vital industries like aviation, its price will decrease by P2.30 to P2.60 per liter.
Domestic oil firms will be implementing the price cuts by Tuesday, May 9, and it will be anchored on cost swings of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the pricing benchmark for traded petroleum commodities in the regional market.
Global experts said that last week’s plummet in oil prices had been mainly due to renewed fears of banking crisis contagion following the recently reported collapse of First Republic Bank in the United States.
Such dismal development in the global banking industry was compounded by weaker-than-expected industrial figures from China; hence, reinforcing jitters of overall slowdown in global economic growths.
Futures contract for international benchmark Brent crude plunged to the level of $74 per barrel last week, a drop from $79 to $80 per barrel from trading days in the prior week.
Compounding the geopolitical dilemma of the oil markets last week had been reports of hijacked oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz along the Persian Gulf, as well as the lingering deadlock on oil exports that will be coming from the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Conversely, news of falling inventory in the US partly propped market as of Friday (May 5) trading, with crude prices rising slightly to $75 per barrel, but market watchers noted that was not enough to lift sagging prices.
Onward, the major development anticipated in markets would be the outcome of the scheduled in-person meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its ally-producers (OPEC+) by June 4, especially if they will come up with any decision to arrest the precipitous slide in prices.
