Fuel companies raising pump prices

MANILA, Philippines — Local oil firms are raising pump prices today, with a steep increase for gasoline, amid a tight supply situation in the Asian market.

In separate advisories, oil companies announced that gasoline prices would be increased by P1.45 per liter, diesel by P0.30 per liter and kerosene by P0.40 per liter. This is the sixth consecutive week for gasoline price increases. There were no adjustments in diesel and kerosene prices last week.

Caltex Philippines said it would implement the price hike by 12:01 a.m. while Petro Gazz, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, PTT Philippines and Seaoil Philippines said they would implement the increases starting this 6 a.m. Other oil companies have yet to announce their respective price adjustments as of this writing.

The monitoring done by the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that the tight supply of oil in the Asian region pushed up local prices.

“Fundamentals in the Asian gasoline market strengthened further at the end of the trading week as greater evidence of supply tightness emerged with news of refinery maintenance in the region,” the DOE said.

Those undergoing maintenance include Japan’s largest refiner JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy until April 14 while Petronas will be starting its scheduled maintenance program on March 20.

Meanwhile, Sinopec announced plans to shutdown its Dongxing refinery at Zhanjiang in southern China’s Guangdong province for a two-month maintenance starting July 3 until around Sept. 3.