Oil price rollbacks seen next week

MANILA, Philippines — Hefty rollbacks in pump prices can be expected by motorists next week.

Cleanfuel said the running trend showed a potential P2.60 per liter drop in the price of diesel and P2.10 per liter in gasoline.

An oil industry source, on the other hand, estimated possible reductions to range from P1.95 to P2.10 for gasoline, diesel from P2.50 to P2.70 per liter and kerosene from P2.30 to P2.50 per liter.

In an interview with dzBB yesterday, Department of Energy (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau director Rino Abad said prices of diesel and kerosene prices could go down by more than P2 per liter based on the first four trading days of the week.

As for gasoline, however, the DOE official said it is still uncertain whether it will be an upward or downward adjustment.

The final price movements will be announced by oil companies on Monday, which will take effect the next day.

Diesel prices have been on a decline for three consecutive weeks, while gasoline and kerosene prices have dropped for two straight weeks.

Last week, oil firms slashed gasoline prices by P1.50 per liter, diesel by P1.30 per liter and kerosene by P1.40 per liter.

The adjustments resulted in a year-to-date net decrease of P4.35 per liter for diesel and P4.95 per liter for kerosene, data from the DOE showed.

Gasoline, on the other hand, has a year-to-date net increase of P6.05 per liter.