Pump prices seen dropping slightly next week

MANILA, Philippines — Pump prices are expected to see a slight reduction next week, ending successive weeks of price hikes for gasoline.

Cleanfuel said running trend showed a potential reduction of P0.70 per liter on the price of gasoline and P0.30 per liter for diesel.

An oil industry source, meanwhile, estimated possible downward adjustments from P0.30 to P0.40 per liter for diesel and from P0.65 to P0.75 per liter for gasoline.

“There is a high possibility of seeing a rollback for all petroleum products,” Department of Energy Oil Industry Management Bureau director Rino Abad said in an interview with radio dzBB yesterday.

Abad said the possible decline in gasoline and kerosene prices could be around P0.50, while the drop in diesel should be less than P0.50 per liter.

The final pump price movements will be announced by oil companies on Monday, which will take effect the next day.

Oil firms last Tuesday implemented another round of mixed adjustments in pump prices, with gasoline up on its third straight week.

The price of gasoline went up by P1.10 per liter, while that of kerosene saw a P0.35 per liter reduction. There was no movement effected on the price of diesel.

The price adjustments resulted in a year-to-date net decrease of P6.75 per liter for kerosene and net increase of P6.10 per liter for gasoline.

Diesel, meanwhile, has a year-to-date net decrease of P5.05 per liter.