Slight rollback on fuel prices this week

Relief in consumers’ pockets will continue this week as oil companies reduce fuel prices anew.

Based on estimates, the price of gasoline will be reduced by ₱0.20 to ₱0.30 per liter, diesel by ₱0.35 to ₱0.45 per liter, and kerosene by ₱0.40 to ₱0.50 per liter.

Nevertheless, the oil firms said they still have remaining cost recoveries for the ethanol blend in gasoline products and there is a possibility of ‘no rollback’ for gasoline.

The remaining pass-on cost of oil firms on ethanol is still P0.50 per liter and that is targeted to be reflected as increase in gasoline prices for two more weeks.

The oil companies are expected to enforce the price cuts on Tuesday, August 17.

The downtrend in oil prices in the world market came off after the International Energy Agency (IEA) hinted a slowdown in global economic recovery because of the surging infections caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The Paris-based think tank indicated that global oil demand could increase at a very gradual pace in the remaining months of the year, boosted by the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer.

This is already the second batch of rollback in domestic pump prices this month – and it’s a break from cycle of increases in the past two months because of relatively robust oil demand within those periods.

Based on the monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE), pump prices since the start of the year has incurred a net increase of ₱13.25 per liter for gasoline, ₱10.40 per liter for diesel, and ₱8.70 per liter for kerosene.