Huge oil price hikes greet motorists

MANILA, Philippines - Fuel prices go up today as traders bet on an output freeze during the meeting of major oil producers.

The substantial price increase comes after two consecutive weeks of rollbacks.

In a text advisory, SeaOil Philippines Inc. raised pump prices effective 6 a.m. today “to reflect movements in the international petroleum market.”

The price adjustments are P1.10 increase in gasoline, P1.50 in diesel and P1.10 in kerosene products.

In separate advisories, Eastern Petroleum, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines and PTT Philippines also increased diesel prices by P1.50 per liter and gasoline by P1.10 per liter at 6 a.m. today.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Petron Corp. have yet to announce their respective price adjustments.

This week’s price movements drove fuel products to register higher year-to-date price increases since the start of 2016, with a P1.10 per liter net increase for gasoline, a P1.75 per liter net increase for diesel and a P1.55 per liter net increase for kerosene.

Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau director Melita Obillo said speculations of oil traders that an agreement could be reached during the meeting among Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC member-countries drove prices higher.

The meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC members took place in Qatar on Sunday (Monday, Manila time).

However, the world’s largest oil producers failed to reach a deal aimed at cutting production.

With the recent development, Obillo said oil prices will again go down, “hopefully starting (Monday)’s trading.”