Diesel, kerosene prices up

GASOLINE PRICES will be unchanged this week, oil companies said on Monday, reflecting the movement of prices in the international petroleum market. But diesel prices will be higher by P0.55 per liter while kerosene prices will be up by P0.30 a liter. The oil companies that sent their advisories on Monday said they would be raising prices of the two products by 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 9. The price adjustment came after the cost of gasoline, diesel and kerosene rose last week by P0.20, P0.65 and P0.75 per liter, respectively. All three products — along with aviation fuel, fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and auto LPG — are expected to become more costly starting this year with the implementation of new excise taxes and the first-time imposition of valueadded taxes on most of them. The Department of Energy (DoE) earlier said that it was not expecting prices to increase significantly in the first 15 days of the year because of the required 15-day supply buffer for oil companies. The department has directed oil companies to submit by Jan. 5, a report on their inventory as of end-2017 on a per-depot and per-product basis. Also required is the submission of the daily summary of withdrawal starting Jan. 1, 2018 until the depletion of the declared inventory. “They complied,” said Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella in a text message when asked about the report submission. —