Fuel prices seen to retreat next week
MANILA, Philippines — A combination of crucial developments abroad, including releases from oil reserves, new lockdowns and peace talks, are forecasted to push fuel prices down in the country next week, an official of the Department of Energy said Saturday.
Oil Industry Management Bureau assistant director Rodela Romero told state-run People’s Television that there will be a rollback on fuel products by Tuesday, but declined to specify by how much as this may set a benchmark for oil companies.
Romero said the expected cut is primarily being driven by the plan of the US and its allies to tap into their emergency oil stash to calm rising prices as they move to halt importation of oil from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The US, for one, announced Thursday that it will release an unprecedented one million barrels of oil every day for six months, or a total of 180 million barrels.
The 31-nation International Energy Agency also said it will tap into its reserves but did not specify how much oil it will release, although US President Joe Biden said the group agreed to let out “tens of millions” of barrels.
Rodela also pointed to new lockdowns in China, particularly in commercial hub Shanghai, prompted by a spike in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant as a reason behind the coming drop in fuel prices.
“Because those provinces in China are locked down, demand has slumped,” she said in Filipino.
In addition to this, Rodela said ongoing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the fighting in the eastern European country also affected oil prices.
Oil prices in the Philippines have risen 12 times this year alone, amounting to P18.3 per liter for gasoline, P27.85 per liter for diesel and P25.75 per liter for kerosene.
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