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After five successive price hikes, oil firms
implemented a rollback in pump prices on Monday, when world oil
prices also continued to slip in Asian trade.
In separate text messages, Seaoil
Philippines Inc., Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc., Petron Corp.
and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. announced a cut of P1.25 a liter
for gasoline, P1 a liter for diesel and P0.75 a liter for kerosene.
Bobby Kanapi, Shell vice
president for communications, said the price cut reflects the recent
reduction in product costs.
Data from the Department of
Energy showed that as of June 25, both imported gasoline and diesel
have been averaging at $77 a barrel from $78.50 a barrel and $78.59
a barrel, respectively, between June 15 and 19.
Prior to the reduction on Monday,
oil companies had implemented five consecutive price hikes in June
because of rising world oil prices.
LPG prices to go up
Despite the rollback, oil firms
were expected to hike liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices within
the week following a price increase initiated by retailers.
The LPG Marketers Association, in
particular, implemented a P3 a kilogram increase in cooking gas
prices over the weekend because of the higher international contract
price for the commodity.
The group’s president, Arnel Ty,
said the contract price of LPG went up by $90 per metric ton from
$437 per metric ton in June.
LPG contract prices are set on a
monthly basis, while imported gasoline and diesel prices fluctuate
daily.
Bulk LPG suppliers were expected
to follow suit with their own price adjustments, but they have yet
to indicate at what price level.
“We expect an increase of
almost P5 per kilogram. We might do it in tranches,” said Iñigo
Golingay, Liquigaz Philippines Corp. marketing manager.
An 11-kilogram cooking gas
cylinder is selling between P432 and P530 a tank. Unleaded gasoline
is selling between P36.25 and P43.97 a liter, and diesel from P27.65
to P34.53 a liter.
World oil prices
From Singapore, Agence France-Presse
reported that oil slipped further in Asian trade on Monday as
investors continued to worry about the state of the US economy, the
world’s biggest energy user.
New York’s main contract, light
sweet crude for August delivery, dropped 13 cents to $69.03 a
barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for August delivery sank 24
cents to $68.68.
Both contracts closed lower
Friday.
“Oil pricing is under pressure
from concerns regarding the weak oil demand in the US,” said
Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy
Purvin and Gertz.
Crude fell at the end of last
week during US trading hours after official data released Friday
showed spending by American consumers rose a weak 0.3 percent in May
from April, supported mainly by a massive government stimulus.
The personal savings rate shot up
to a 16-year high, indicating consumers were wary of spending amid
rising unemployment and plummeting home values, the data showed.
The report by the Commerce
department is widely watched because consumer spending accounts for
two-thirds of US economic activity and is considered key to recovery
from the severe recession that began in December 2007.
Recent spike
Crude prices spiked in recent
weeks, boosted in part by the weak US dollar that means lower oil
costs for purchasers using foreign currencies.
New unrest in oil-producing
Nigeria was another factor that saw crude rising above $71 at one
stage during intra-day trading Friday, analysts said.
“Oil markets continue to
monitor developments in Nigeria. In recent weeks, militants have
attacked oil industry infrastructure in Nigeria,” said David
Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of
Australia in Sydney.
Nigeria, once Africa’s leading
oil producer, has seen its oil production affected by militants who
claim they are fighting for a fairer share of the black gold’s
wealth for impoverished communities in the Niger Delta.
The African country now produces
about 1.8 million barrels of oil a day compared with 2.6 million in
2006.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo And AFP
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