New Year, new oil price hikes

MANILA, Philippines — In separate advisories, oil firms said they would implement an increase of P0.85 per liter on gasoline, P0.50 per liter on diesel and P0.35 per liter on kerosene.

Petro Gazz, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Seaoil Philippines said their price adjustments would take effect at 6 a.m. Cleanfuel, on the other hand, will hike gasoline and diesel prices at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

This is the third consecutive week diesel and kerosene prices were raised. Last week, diesel prices were increased by P1.15 per liter and kerosene prices by P1.10 per liter.

This brought year-to-date adjustments to stand at a net increase of P6.47 per liter for gasoline, P4.91 per liter for diesel and P1.71 per liter for kerosene.

The latest adjustments may prompt price increases in January to reach P7 per liter for diesel, which is widely used in both private and public transportation, party-list group Bayan Muna said yesterday.            

Representatives Carlos Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite attributed their projected price hike on the latest adjustment by oil companies, the increase in the excise tax and the shift to diesel by oil tankers all over the world.            

They claimed that their projection is based on estimates made by the Department of Energy (DOE). The price hike for January 2020 for gasoline would be P1.85 per liter, while kerosene would be P1.35 per liter higher, the lawmakers said.

But starting New Year’s Day, the controversial Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law would increase the oil excise tax by P1.50 per liter for diesel and P1 for gasoline, kerosene, cooking gas and lubricating oils, they said.

“Worse, considering the shift to diesel by tankers transporting oil products, P5-P10, based on DOE computations, will be added to diesel prices per liter. This means we will have a whopping P7 per liter increase for diesel,” Zarate added.