Diesel prices cut by 11.10/liter; 10.50/liter for gasoline

Motorists – primarily in the public transport sector that relies heavily on diesel – will have their pockets financially eased this week with the 11.10 per liter rollback in the price of that petroleum commodity in the domestic pumps.

For gasoline, the price reduction will be at a leaner 10.50 per liter for this week’s

cost adjustments, based on the advisory of the oil companies.

The prime mover of this fresh round of price rollbacks had been Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., the oil company of flourishing business magnate Dennis Uy, which implemented the price rollbacks effective 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 10.

The price trends set by Phoenix Petroleum had been immediately followed by Clean Fuel; with that company announcing the same scale of rollbacks for both diesel and gasoline products -- but it will be effective 4 p.m. , Sunday, August 11.

The rest of the industry players are anticipated to go along with dictates of market forces; but majority of them are expected to enforce price reductions on their Tuesday routine – or by August 13.

The Department of Energy (DOE) indicated that there was a considerable downswing in prices in the world market; hence, that is now warranting the price declines at Philippine pumps.

The Dubai crude in particular, which is the pricing benchmark for Asian refiners, had softened to the level of US$55 per barrel in recent trading days compared to the higher pitch of US$59 to $60 per barrel in the past weeks.

Global market analysts have been noting the oil industry’s incessant plunge into the “bear territory” with no definitive green shoots of stable recovery yet despite commitment of oil producers to stick to the output quota that they had agreed upon.