SKYROCKETING world oil prices have again prompted oil companies to raise by another 50 centavos per liter the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, which took effect over the weekend.

Oil companies Chevron Philippines Inc., Petron Corp. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. implemented their price hike on Saturday morning, while Total (Philippines) Corp. increased its prices on Sunday morning.

The latest price hike brings the total of increase toP1 a liter for this month alone.

Oil officials attributed the upward adjustment in domestic prices to the increase of world oil prices, particularly the Dubai crude, which averaged $94.86 a barrel this month from $90 a barrel in February.

In February oil companies have reduced the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by P2.50 a kilo, but exclusive of the value-added tax, to reflect the downtrend in the international contract price of LPG to $802.50 per metric ton (MT) this month from $873.50 per MT in January.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE) monitoring, the average price of refined gasoline products at the Mean of Platts Singapore increased to $103.95 a barrel in February from $100.51 a barrel in January.

The DOE noted that the average price of diesel had also showed a significant increase to $112.27 per barrel in February from $107.91 a barrel in January.

THE local contact-center industry is seen to outpace its counterparts in Asia this year with a 23.4-percent growth, based on a survey covering the managers of call centers located in the region.

THE auto industry is confident of continuing its strong growth in the next months despite the heightened political rumblings, especially with the stable economic fundamentals already helping its sales to increase by 14.3 percent in the first two months of the year.

SKYROCKETING world oil prices have again prompted oil companies to raise by another 50 centavos per liter the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, which took effect over the weekend.

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Friday that it approved the application of the First Gen Energy Solutions Inc. (FGES) as a retail electricity supplier, even as the ERC looks forward to providing consumers the choice of where to source their power requirements.

CONSUMER advocate and businessman Raul T. Concepcion proposed Friday to revise the application of the lifeline-rate subsidy in such a way that only qualified poor residential users can avail themselves of such subsidy.

DAVAO CITY—The country’s pioneer in distributing auto-liquefied petroleum gas (auto-LPG) in the Visayas and Mindanao has offered the Office of the Vice Mayor here its autogas air-conditioned taxis for driver-beneficiaries of a livelihood project.

THE Philippines is inching closer toward achieving the status of a “mining country” as mining investments continue to pour in, despite the strong opposition to the government’s mining-revitalization program by various sectors.