Oil price hike looms this week

MANILA, Philippines - Consumers should brace for an oil price hike this week due to movements in the international market, an oil industry official said.

“The MOPS (Mean of Platts Singapore) of unleaded [gasoline] reversed the trend and is now on the uptrend from two consecutive rollbacks,” Fernando Martinez, chairman emeritus of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association, said in a text message.

MOPS is used as a price benchmark for refined fuel.

In the world market, prices climbed due to continuous unrest in the Middle East.

Last week, US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died after an attack on the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. US diplomatic facilities in Cairo, Egypt and Yemen were also stormed by protesters.

This week’s oil price increase will snap two consecutive weeks of rollbacks.

Last week, major and independent oil firms slashed pump prices of premium gasoline and diesel by 60 centavos and 25 centavos per liter, respectively.

However, the oil firms marked up prices of kerosene by 20 centavos per liter while maintaining the price of regular gasoline.

Year-to-date, net increase for gasoline hit P3.08 per liter while diesel recorded a net increase P1.97 per liter, data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed.

Under Republic Act 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, oil firms can set the prices petroleum products based on market forces to encourage competition.

The deregulation law also prohibits the government from intervening or influencing the pricing schemes of the oil companies.

However, the government, through the DOE, has the power to monitor prices. For monitoring purposes, the DOE has requested the firms to report to the department any price adjustments.