Oil companies slash diesel, kerosene prices

Manila, Philippines -  Most major and independent oil companies have cut pump prices of oil products anew, marking the 13th consecutive price rollback in the past weeks.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Chevron Philippines Inc. and Petron Corp., and independent oil firms Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., Seaoil Philippines Inc., and Total Philippines Corp. reduced prices of diesel by 30 centavos per liter.

All firms also slashed prices of kerosene by 40 centavos per liter effective today.

“This is to reflect movements in the international oil market,” Petron said.

“No movement for gasoline and regular fuel,” Shell said.

The debt crisis in Europe and deteriorating economic data in the US, China and other parts of the world translate to a generally weak world oil demand, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

“Most analysts believed that the primary reason of the oil prices downtrend is the growing signs of weakness in the world economy,” it added.

Last week, major and independent oil players slashed prices of premium gasoline by P1.80 per liter and regular gasoline by P1.40 per liter. The companies also reduced prices of diesel and kerosene by P1 per liter.

Since the start of the year, there have been 10 price increases and 15 price reductions, DOE data showed.

To date, gasoline and diesel posted a net decrease of P3.92 per liter and P5.06 per liter, respectively.

Meanwhile, Petron and Total yesterday reduced prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for household use by P5.50 per kilogram, excluding value-added tax.

Total also cut prices of LPG for automotive use by P1 per liter effective today.

Under the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, oil firms can price their products based on market forces so as to encourage competition.

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

However, for monitoring purposes, the DOE has requested the oil firms to report any price adjustments before implementation.