Oil firms roll back prices anew

LOCAL oil firms said separately yesterday that they would reduce prices of gasoline today in view of lower prices in the international oil market.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. said it would slash the prices of Fuel Save Gasoline, V-Power Nitro+, VPower Nitro-Racing by P1.80 per liter; diesel/kerosene by P1 per liter and regular gasoline by P1.40 per liter.

Eastern Petroleum said it would roll back prices of its unleaded gasoline and Intensity premium gasoline by P1.80 per liter, Power diesel/kerosene by P1 per liter and regular gasoline by P1.40 per liter.

Phoenix Petroleum Philippines will decrease the prices of its gasoline by P1.80 per liter and its diesel fuel by P1 per liter effective 6 a.m. today “to reflect the continued decline in the prices of refined petroleum products in the world market.”

The move by the three oil firms is expected to be replicated by the other companies in the competitive market.

Most oil companies operating here have implemented price rollbacks, according to the Oil Monitor report posted on the Department of Energy’s website.

The report said that last week, the Metro Manila prices of diesel fuel ranged from P38.50 to P41.25 per liter, gasoline from P45.45 to P53.07 per liter, Auto liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from P26.06 to P27.06, and LPG (11 kg) from P562 to P700.

Oil prices have been falling recently following concerns about the euro zone crisis and perception of an oversupply in the oil market, the Department of Energy’s Oil Monitor said.

“Oil prices generally slipped as investors and traders were reluctant to add positions, looking forward to the result of the Organiza- tion of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meeting and the Greek elections. Specifically, traders were looking for any change in Opec’s output policy given that some view the market as oversupplied,” the report said.

However, the DOE said that contrary to some market views on supply fundamentals, the International Energy Agency (IEA) noted in its latest monthly report that the world oil market was currently better supplied, “not oversupplied.”

Opec has estimated the global oil supply and demand balance to ease further in the second half of the year. The Department of Energy said this was due in part to a slowing global economy.

Consequently, the Department of Energy said, Opec decided to cut production by 1.6 million barrels per day but the target was never adhered to and production had risen in April and May despite sanctions against Iranian crude exports.