Over P1 per liter rollback seen across diesel, gasoline, kerosene

Motorists can expect pump prices of fuel products to be rolled back by over P1 per liter in the coming week.

Citing the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) trading in the past four days, Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau Assistant Director Rodela Romero said there might be a decrease in the per liter price across all products of  more than a peso.

The following are the projected price adjustments, based on oil industry estimates:

• Gasoline - down by P1.60 to P1.80 per liter
• Diesel - P1.70 to P1.95 per liter
• Kerosene - P1.35 to P1.45 per liter

Interviewed on GMA News’ Balitanghali, DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau Director Rino Abad said the estimated price adjustments were still subject to change depending on Friday’s MOPS trading.

MOPS is the basis for pricing of refined petroleum products in Southeast Asia.

The local oil industry uses MOPS, the daily average of all trading transactions between buyers and sellers of petroleum products as assessed and summarized by Standard and Poor’s Platts.

Abad said the expected per liter price cuts could be attributed to Platts’ expectation that there would be an oversupply 100,000 barrels per day of crude towards the end of the year and this “could go up further come the first quarter of next year.

However, he said that petroleum prices in the international market could be impacted by the plan of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) to cut production by 900,000 barrels per day.

Fuel firms usually announce price adjustments every Monday, to be implemented on the following day.

Last Tuesday, December 5, oil companies implemented a per liter price hike for gasoline and kerosene by P0.30 and P0.20, respectively. The price of diesel, meanwhile, was rolled back by P0.30 per liter.

The latest price adjustments resulted in a year-to-date net increase of P12.60 per liter for gasoline, P5.70 per liter for diesel, and P1.94 per liter for kerosene.

In Metro Manila, the prevailing retail prices of gasoline ranged from P55.30 to P75.65 per liter, diesel prices range between P52.70 and P66.05 per liter, while kerosene prices ranged from P71.40 to P84.40 per liter, according to Energy Department data as of December 5 to 11, 2023. — DVM, GMA Integrated News