• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The eighth straight week of increases for gasoline, and the ninth for diesel and kerosene, will take effect tomorrow, March 3, even as the US-Israeli war on Iran has kindled fears of soaring oil prices.
Oil companies said the per-liter price of gasoline could increase from P1.70 to P2, diesel by P1 to P1.30/L, and kerosene by P1.30 to P1.50/L.
The exact adjustments will be known today.
Last week, the pump prices of petroleum products also increased by P0.60/L for gasoline, P1.20/L for diesel, and P1.20/L for kerosine.
But analysts have warned “that oil market prices could surge from about $67 a barrel to $100”, following the US-Israeli war on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and some members of his family, among others, per wire reports.
Within hours of the US-Israeli strikes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reportedly warned tankers in the strait of Hormuz that no ship would be allowed to pass through the world’s most critical oil trade route, reports said.
Any halt on trade flows through the strait could block up to 15m barrels a day of crude oil from reaching their destinations. Energy analysts predicted that crude oil prices would hit $100 a barrel “as the market grapples with the threat of a potential supply disruption amid a spiraling security situation in the Middle East”, wire reports stressed. | CGC
