Another Week, Another Increase in Oil Prices

Increase in oil prices in the country is now becoming a regular occurrence as another round of fuel price hikes are announced starting Tuesday.

Multiple oil firms led by Caltex, Cleanfuel, Petro Gazz, PTT Philippines, Seaoil, Shell, and Total said in separate announcements that an implementation on a “big-time” price hike on gasoline at PHP1.15 per liter, and diesel by PHP0.60 per liter will occur on Tuesday.

Kerosene will also see her share on price hikes as oil firms Caltex, Seaoil, and Shell increase kerosene prices by PHP0.65 per liter, this comes after multiple oil firms made a 5-centavo reduction of kerosene price last week.

With the big-time price increase on gasoline prices and another round of increase in diesel prices, the continuous price hikes on oil in the Philippines has been going on for seven consecutive weeks.

Multiple factors are seen to contribute to the continuous increase of oil prices in the country.

The global market for oil is steadily increasing as different countries around the world are now starting to recover from the pandemic. The reopening of the economy of China, Europe, and the United States is a large contributing factor in the rising demand for oil globally.

The weaker peso is also playing a contribution in the increase of oil prices in the Philippines.

With the Philippine peso breaching the PHP50 to a US dollar mark, buying of crude oil becomes much more expensive compared to when the peso was at a steady PHP47 to a dollar mark.

Data from the Department of Energy says that year over year price increase of gasoline is at PHP12.35 per liter, diesel prices at PHP10 per liter, and kerosene prices by PHP8.35 per liter. (GFB)