AT A GLANCE
In the Philippine oil market, consumers’ uproar has been escalating due to relentless price hikes at the pumps – not just on the public transport drivers’ bid for fare hikes, but also on demand for subsidy as well as scrapping of value added taxes (VAT) for oil commodities.
After 11 weeks of financial torment at the gasoline stations, consumers can finally heave a sigh of slight relief as oil prices will be on rollback at the pumps by Tuesday (September 26), based on the calculation of the oil companies.
According to the industry players, the price of diesel products will be trimmed by P0.30 to P0.70 per liter; while gasoline prices will be reduced by P0.20 to P0.60 per liter.
The oil firms similarly calculated that the price of kerosene, which is an essential base for aviation fuel and also a necessity for many Filipino households, would be down by P0.45 to P0.85 per liter.
The actual estimates on price cuts as indexed on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) had been P0.41 per liter for gasoline; P0.50 per liter for diesel and P0.659 per liter for kerosene, but the final adjustments at Philippine pumps may vary because of other factors, such as market premium, foreign exchange rate as well as biofuel mix to diesel and gasoline products.
Prior to the forthcoming round of cost movements, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that prices since the start of the year still logged net increases of P17.50 per liter for gasoline; P13.60 per liter for diesel; and P9.94 per liter for kerosene.
Prices in the global market last week had been on seesaw, but it was the decision of the US Federal Reserve on extended interest rate hikes policy that eventually tamed oil prices, according to industry experts.
The counterbalance to that market development had been the decision of Russia to restrict its diesel and gasoline exports, hence, the anticipated price rollbacks had been partly squeezed toward end-week trading.
The Russian government, in particular, has temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all countries, except those of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyztan, and that exerted fresh round of price pressure on the fuel commodities.
International benchmark Brent crude was still wobbling at $93 to $94 per barrel most of trading days last week, and there’s no certainty at this point that it will be heading downtrend in the days ahead.
And as oil prices are not leveling off on stable ground yet, global investment bank Goldman Sachs has been projecting the recurrence of $100 per barrel oil, especially so since many energy markets in the world have been fumbling on their energy transition agendas that are anchored on renewables.
In the Philippine oil market, consumers’ uproar has been escalating due to relentless price hikes at the pumps – not just on the public transport drivers’ bid for fare hikes, but also on demand for subsidy as well as scrapping of value added taxes (VAT) for oil commodities.
