While Nobody was Looking, Oil Firms Hike Prices

October 19, 2010, 8:16pm

MANILA, Philippines — While the country gets battered by super typhoon “Juan,” local oilcompanies enforced yet another price hike on petroleum products.

At 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, oil giants Pilipinas Shell and Petron Corp. increased all their gasoline prices by P0.50 a liter and kerosene by another P0.25 a liter.

Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex), which along with Shell and Petron make up the “Big Three” oil companies, followed suit with a similar price movement at 6 a.m. The trio did not announce any movement for the prices of diesel, whichpowers most public utility vehicles.

Meanwhile, Fernando Martinez, president of independent oil player Eastern Petroleum, in a phone interview on Tuesday said that they would match the gas and kerosene price hikes of the bigger companies.

“We’re matching their adjustment effective 12 noon today (Tuesday),” Martinez told Manila Bulletin.

The latest adjustments are the third price increase in as many weeks, meaning they have yet to roll back pump this month.

Big and small oil firms imposed hefty price increases of P1.25 a liter on gasoline and kerosene as well as P1 a liter on diesel last October 12. Exactly a week earlier, the same oil firms added P0.50 a liter on gasoline prices and another P0.25 a liter on prices of kerosene and diesel.

Price hikes and rollbacks alternated throughout the month of September.

The latest hike raised the average retail price of gasoline (unleaded) and kerosene in Metro Manila to P44 and P43.50, respectively. Diesel, which was unchanged, stood at an average retail price of P34.

Since oil firms base domestic price tweaks on the movement of international oil market prices during the previous week, then consumers can more or less expect lowered pump prices next week.

This, after crude price in Asia posted over $0.50 price drops during trading Monday, placing crude below $81 per barrel.

Ellson Quismorio, Manila Bulletin