MANILA, Philippines — A price freeze on cooking gas and kerosene is now in effect in Batangas, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.
“After the declaration of a state of calamity by a competent authority, the price freeze is automatically in effect for kerosene and household LPG products,” DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said in a text message yesterday.
Batangas province declared a state of calamity after Alert Level 4 was raised with the imminent hazardous eruption of Taal Volcano. The declaration is meant to “hasten the rescue, recovery, relief and rehabilitation efforts of the government and the private sector, including any international humanitarian assistance.”
The price freeze will last 15 days.
Meanwhile, more oil companies announced price cuts on diesel and kerosene.
Chevron Philippines Inc., which operates Caltex stations, said it will cut diesel prices by P0.20 per liter and kerosene by P0.30 per liter effective 12:01 a.m. today.
Flying V, Petron, Pilipinas Shell, PTT Philippines and Total Philippines will implement the same price reduction starting at 6 a.m.
Cleanfuel reduced diesel prices starting 4 p.m. last Sunday while Seaoil Philippines rolled back their prices at 6 a.m. yesterday.
This breaks the three consecutive weeks of diesel price increases. On the other hand, gasoline prices remained the same.
In the past trading week, global oil prices started higher but lost steam as the market reassessed the Middle East conflict and shifted focus to rising US crude stocks.