Caltex raises gas prices by 80¢/liter

Caltex Philippines Inc. raised anew effective last night the pump prices of its products by as much as 80 centavos per liter.

Caltex increased prices of its Vortex Gold Unleaded, Vortex Silver Unleaded and regular unleaded gasoline by 80 centavos a liter, and its Power Diesel and kerosene by 70 centavos per liter.

Caltex, a subsidiary of Chevron Texaco Co. of the US, said it cannot prevent oil prices from going up.

"We continue to experience cost pressures due to the steep rise in regional raw material and product prices over the last few weeks, in light of numerous factors affecting supply and demand, such as the ongoing Middle East tension," a Caltex official said.

The official said the prices of crude oil in the region is in the uptrend for the past few weeks.

Late last week, local oil companies said they will be increasing their prices at around 70 to 80 centavos, to reflect the international prices at the domestic market.

But Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell, the two other major oil players in the country, said they do not have plans to increase their prices this weekend.

"We do not have words yet from the management. Definitely, we will not move this weekend," Shell external affairs general manager Roberto Kanapi said.

Small oil players Eastern Petroleum Corp, Unioil and Totalfinaelf also announced they will not increase their prices.

However, Eastern Petroleum chairman Fernando Martinez said they will adjust their prices the same level as Caltex by 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Caltex was the first oil company to adjust its prices this month. Since the start of the year, the oil firms have already raised their prices five times with a total increase of about P2.94 per liter.

Based on the Department of Energy (DOE) data, without the recent increase of 70-80 centavos, the current selling price of unleaded gasoline is between P19.05 and P20.65; diesel at P15.20 and P15.28 and kerosene at P15.53 and P16.04.

As of Feb. 26, the Dubai crude, the benchmark of local major oil companies in pricing their products, averaged $29.96 per barrel as against $28.02 in January.

Caltex officials said regional finished products for unleaded gasoline in February averaged at almost $6 per barrel, higher than the January average, while the average price of diesel has moved up by almost $5 in the same period.

They said other factors such as supply, demand, competition and the local marketplace affected their domestic price level.

"We will continue to monitor the market and the competitive landscape closely over the next few days and ensure that our products are priced competitively and independently," Caltex said.