Oil prices hiked by 25¢

Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, Caltex Philippines Inc. and new oil players Total (Philippines) Corp. and Unioil Petroleum Phils. announced yesterday the price of their pump products (gasoline, diesel and kerosene) will be increased by 25 centavos per liter effective today.

Market leader Petron Corp. said that the oil price hike would reflect its crude costs for the last two months.

"We were supposed to increase prices in September because of the increase in crude costs last August," said Petron public affairs manager Virginia Ruivivar.

"Instead, we rolled back gasoline by P0.30 per liter and kerosene by P0.10 per liter last month."

Ruivivar said the company’s "XCS Plus" will now retail at P21.04 per liter, while "Diesel Max" will be priced at P16.10 per liter.

Petron will continue to peg its diesel prices at P15.50 per liter for jeepneys in service stations offering price discounts, she added.

On the other hand, Rona Quejada, Total Phils. corporate affairs manager, said the adjustment in the prices of petroleum product partly reflects the increase in product cost based on the previous months‚ international oil market price movements and currency exchange.

Quejada said Total will continue to give special discount to public transport groups to maintain the price of diesel within the P15.50 level.

"This time, Total could only respond to the international oil market indicators," she said.

"But we will remain sensitive to the plight of the public who utilizes the public transport system. Total will continue supporting the special discounts extended by its service stations catering to public jeepney routes.

"Likewise, the discount program we have in place with public bus companies will continue."

Quejada said Total will continue to closely monitor movements in the world oil market, foreign exchange and prevailing local market situation.

It will accordingly respond to these indicators while trying its best to ease the financial burden on consumers whenever possible, she added.

Chito Medina-Cue, Unioil’s general manager for retail, said the adjustment in prices is actually reflective of the continuous increase in the international prices of petroleum products for the past month.

Medina-Cue said there has also been a depreciation of the peso in the same period.

Just like Petron and Total, Unioil will maintain the much-needed discounts to the transport sector, he added.