Gas, kerosene prices up; diesel prices down

MANILA, Philippines - Oil firms have reduced the prices of diesel but raised those of gasoline and kerosene effective today.

In a text advisory, Seaoil Philippines Inc. yesterday said it would adjust its pump prices effective 12:01 a.m. today “to reflect movements in the international petroleum market.”

It said gasoline prices were raised by P0.20 per liter and kerosene by P0.15 per liter. On the other hand, diesel prices were rolled back by P0.10 per liter.

Eastern Petroleum Corp. announced yesterday it would reduce diesel prices by P0.15 per liter and increase gasoline prices by P0.15 per liter starting 12:01 a.m. today.

The company said the latest adjustments reflect the current uptrend and downtrend in global gasoline and diesel prices.

“Analysts say the crude oil markets are unlikely to fully re-balance until 2017 at the earliest and will be a major hurdle on the midstream sector,” Eastern Petroleum said.

As of press time, other oil firms have yet to announce their respective price adjustments.

Prior to this week’s price adjustments, the Department of Energy (DOE)’s oil monitoring showed diesel prices ranged from P25.05 to P28.50 per liter and gasoline from P35.25 to P43.15 per liter.

For this year alone, oil firms have implemented a net increase in gasoline prices by P1.61 per liter and a net decrease of P3.04 per liter for diesel.