Gasoline, diesel prices seen to go up next week

MANILA, Philippines — Another round of price hikes for gasoline and diesel may be implemented by local oil companies next week.

Department of Energy (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau assistant director Rodela Romero said there is a potential increase of less than P1 per liter in the prices of both gasoline and diesel by next week, based on the four-day trading in the Mean of Platts Singapore.

Romero said the estimated upward adjustment for gasoline is from P0.65 to P0.85 per liter and from P0.45 to P0.65 per liter for diesel.

Kerosene, on the other hand, could see no adjustment or a rollback of P0.10 per liter.

“These are attributed to the escalating tension in the Middle East, including the attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Iranian missile strikes on targets in Syria and Iraq that added to the geopolitical risk premium and the OPEC forecast on strong growth in global oil demand over the next two years,” Romero said.

An oil industry source, on the other hand, said indicative price movements for next week are increases of between P0.50 and P0.60 per liter for diesel and between P0.70 and P0.80 per liter for gasoline.

The final price adjustments will be announced by oil companies on Monday, which will take effect the next day.

Should the expected increases push through, these would result to a third straight week of price hikes for gasoline and diesel.

Last Tuesday, oil firms raised prices by P0.30 per liter for gasoline and a heftier P0.90 per liter for both diesel and kerosene.