Bigtime Oil Price Rollbacks Set this Week

Oil companies have once again announced a set of oil price reductions by over one peso per liter effective today, March 30, 2021.

Caltex, Cleanfuel, Petro Gazz, Phoenix Petroleum, Seaoil, and Total announced in separate advisories on Monday that prices for their gasoline is to be reduced by a whopping PHP1.20 per liter, while diesel prices are set to be reduced by PHP1.30 per liter.

Kerosene prices of Caltex, Seaoil, and Shell is also set to be reduced by PHP1.40 per liter.

March 2021 saw a continuous reduction of oil prices, as rollbacks have been announced starting on March 9, 2021.

Last week also saw the prices of diesel and kerosene prices decline due to the lower Dubai crude and Means of Platts Singapore (MOPS) gasoline and diesel prices.

The demand for oil is also affected due to the resurgence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases globally, which is also evident in the Philippines as the country recently logged more than 10,000 cases in a day–the highest single-day number of new cases since virus started ravaging the country in February of 2020.

The Department of Energy’s oil monitor bulletin also added that while oil demand outlooks are pressured due to resurgent COVID-19 cases, vaccine rollouts in European countries stemmed recent steep declines.

“Demand outlooks remained under pressure amid concerns of resurgent coronavirus cases in the US and abroad, but the resumption of vaccine rollouts in several European countries stemmed the steep declines of March 18, which saw futures slide 7 percent,” the oil monitor bulletin said.

Lower demand is also seen in the country as most local government units have plans in place to minimize the movement of people this coming holy week, most evident by the placement of the entirety of Metro Manila plus adjacent provinces under the most strict quarantine protocol, the Enhanced Community Quarantine.

Meanwhile in Cebu, Cebu City mayor Edgar Labella reminded everyone that no activities outside the church are allowed, and instructed the Cebu City Police Office, along with barangay officials to closely monitor all areas in the city during the holy week.

In Lapu-Lapu City, walk-in beach visitors for the Holy Week are barred. (GFB)