Oil companies cut gas price

MANILA, Philippines - Oil companies rolled back the prices of gasoline effective today, tracking movements in the international crude market.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp. and Caltex Philippines issued their advisories yesterday.

Phoenix Petroleum and Seaoil Philippines also made similar announcements.

Petron will implement the following rollbacks effective 12:01 a.m., Sept. 9: P0.25 per liter for Turbo Diesel and DieselMax and P0.10 per liter for kerosene.

“These reflect movements in the international oil market,” Petron said.

Last week, oil firms raised pump prices by P0.65 per liter and diesel by P0.25 per liter, ending a series of price rollbacks.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE)’s latest oil price monitoring, gasoline had marginal daily increases in the past week as the product’s cracks continue to track global benchmarks, and additional prompt demand from Indonesia later in the week.

“On the other hand, gasoil/diesel market had steady fundamentals, with lower supply from key exporting countries limiting cargoes available in Singapore. Earlier reports disclosed that refineries in North Asia reduced output due to poor refining margins,” the DOE said.

Moving forward, the DOE said prices in the world crude market may rise in the medium term due to geopolitical conflicts in the oil-producing Middle Eastern region.                           

“Simmering conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, with little sign that they will either escalate further or be resolved imminently. With no resolution to the crises in sight, crude prices will likely move higher in the medium term,” the DOE said.