Oil firms roll back pump prices

MANILA, Philippines - Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, Total Philippines and Chevron Philippines have decided to roll back the prices of their gasoline products after competitors, including Petron, did not raise prices on Wednesday.

In separate advisories, Shell, Chevron and Total said they were to reduce the price of unleaded gasoline by 60 centavos and regular gasoline by 30 centavos per liter effective yesterday. These were the same price increases implemented on Dec. 21.

Based on the monitoring of the Department of Energy (DOE), as of Dec. 20, oil prices were pulled lower during the week by growing concerns on the European debt crisis.

The DOE noted that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) committed to provide enough supply to maintain market balance.  

Dubai crude, the benchmark used by oil refiners, declined week-on-week by $3.27 per barrel; diesel prices declined $3.70 per barrel.

OPEC ministers agreed on Dec. 14 to maintain its current crude output of 30 million barrels per day, including Libya and Iraq.

Each member state would reduce the level of production to make space for Libya, which production level has now reached 1 million b/d and is estimated to recover to pre-civil war production level of 1.6 million b/d in the second half of next year.

Earlier this month, OPEC Secretary General Abdulla Salem El Badri said that the current crude price of $100 per barrel is comfortable for both producers and consumers.

OPEC has scheduled its next ordinary meeting on June 14, 2012.

The DOE data showed that as of Dec. 20, the net increase of gasoline pump prices remained at P4.78 per liter; diesel declined by P6.69 per liter.

Asian crude prices, meanwhile, declined by more than $3 per barrel yesterday as the US and European gasoline markets put pressure in the Asian market.

On the average, however, Asian gasoline is still higher by $0.27 per barrel compared to the previous week.