- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The sixth consecutive week of price increases for diesel and kerosene, and the fifth for gasoline is expected on Aug. 15.
Oil companies announced over the weekend that diesel will increase by P1.40 to P1.60 per liter, gasoline by P1.70 to P1.90/L, and kerosene by P2 to P2.40/L.
The Department of Energy said oil prices rose due to lower July OPEC output and US crude inventory draw…(and) Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their supply cuts up until September.
“The week-on-week price of Dubai crude has increased by around $1.75 per barrel,” the DOE Oil Monitor showed, adding that MOPS diesel and kerosene also increased by about $8.60/bbl and $6.10/bbl, respectively.
The exact adjustments will be known today, Aug. 14, as oil companies usually implement price movements every Tuesday.
Diesel increased by P4 a liter, gasoline at P0.50/L, and kerosene at P2.75/L effective Aug. 8.
The recent price adjustments resulted in a net increase of P11.50/L for gasoline, P7.10/L diesel, and P2.60/L for kerosene since the start of this year.
In Manila, several transport groups have asked the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board for a P2 hike in the minimum fare in all public utility vehicles nationwide due to the successive oil price increases.
Transport group Piston also recently called on the Marcos administration “to take decisive action by urgently repealing the Oil Deregulation Law and suspending the e-VAT and excise tax on petroleum products, to provide immediate relief to Filipinos”.
The group said in a statement that the relentless rise in volatile fuel prices, exacerbated by the Oil Deregulation Law, “poses a grave threat to the already precarious financial situation of PUV drivers and small operators, with jeepney drivers and operators being particularly vulnerable due to the ongoing PUV phaseout”.
It added that the proposed surge fare pricing by the LTFRB as a response to the rising fuel costs is a misguided and shortsighted approach to the oil price hikes because this will only overburden the commuters./CGC
