Oil firms’ gift: P2 price cut

In the spirit of the Christmas season, the country’s largest oil refiner Petron Corp. is selling its diesel and gasoline products in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu at P2 less per liter, starting today until Jan. 1 next year.

The special discount is part of "Pamaskong Handog ng Petron." Petron unleaded gasoline normally sells for P37.29 per liter and diesel, P33.18.

Chevron Phils. (formerly Caltex) also announced a similar reduction in oil prices through the holiday season, where techron gold and other products will be sold P2 lower in selected stations.

Petron is the only publicly-listed oil company in the Philippines. The government-run Philippine National Oil Co. and the Saudi Aramco have 40 percent stake each in the company. The remaining 20 percent is publicly-owned.

Unioil Philippines Inc., one of the independent oil players, launched its own special holiday discount promo on Dec. 7 "in the spirit of Christmas.".

"We had provided a P3.50 per liter discount on all products purchased between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on selected Unioil stations," Unioil spokesman Raymond Zorilla said. 

Zorilla said the discount would help Filipino oil consumers save on fuel expenses during the holiday season.

The oil firms launched discount offers despite the uptrend in the prices of world crude.

The benchmark Dubai crude reached $59.07 per barrel as against November’s $56.72 per barrel.

The average diesel price at Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the pricing gauge of oil importers, stood at $72.37 per barrel versus $71.03 in November.

Unleaded gasoline price at MOPS also increased to $67.53 per barrel as of Dec. 19 from $62.89. - Donnabelle Gatdula