Oil firms roll back gas prices by P50¢

Oil companies announced yesterday the first price rollback of pump prices this year.

Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and Chevron Philippines Inc. said they would cut the prices of their gasoline, diesel and kerosene products by 50 centavos per liter.

PTT Philippines Inc., on the other hand, announced a P1 per liter price reduction.

As of Jan. 13, 2009, the price of unleaded gasoline stood at P29 to P32.46 per liter while diesel was priced at P27.70 to P32.50 per liter.

“We are just implementing the prices in the pumps to reflect the downturn of the global prices, at the same time,” PTT marketing officer Roby Tanjuatco told reporters.

“We also have to protect our trading area in order to be competitive and of course, this is for public support,” Tanjuatco said.

Shell, meanwhile, said that the recent price reduction was not part of the supposed weekly adjustments that they would start to undertake this year.

“The latest rollback reflects Shell’s continuing assessment of oil price movements as it transitions towards weekly price adjustments,” Kanapi said.

As earlier announced, Shell aims to move towards greater pricing transparency by reflecting weekly movements of product prices and foreign exchange.