Oil companies on Monday announced they would implement an upward adjustment in the price of petroleum products effective on Tuesday morning.
In separate advisories, they said gasoline prices will go up by P0.20 per liter, diesel by P0.45 per liter and kerosene by P0.45 per liter.
“This is to reflect movements in the international petroleum market,” said Seaoil Philippines.
Total Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum, PTT Philippines and Eastern Petroleum said their respective price adjustments will take effect at 6 a.m. of June 19.
Other oil firms are expected to follow suit.
Prior to the oil-price increase, oil firms implemented price rollbacks on June 3 and 12. The Department of Energy (DOE) is set to release a policy that will require oil firms to unbundle their fuel prices.
“Hopefully, the DOE doesn’t blink and the reported circular on unbundling of prices of petroleum products, which LKI [Laban Konsyumer Inc.] had supported consistently, be finally issued by DOE[’s] Secretary Alfonso [G.] Cusi, amid the objections of the industry players in focused group discussions held recently,” LKI President and former Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Atty. Vic Dimagiba said on Monday.
In the group’s most recent communication to the Office for Competition of the Department of Justice and the Competitive Enforcement Office of the Philippine Competition Commission, LKI spoke on behalf of consumers around the country, saying that “as consumers, we need to be informed whether the market behavior and retail prices of fuel products are in order and in compliance with the law.”
Dimagiba went on to point out an example of his observations on oil prices and say that, just recently, oil companies have posted big-time price discounts in service stations to as high as P3 per liter under the guise of a corporate development program. “As a consumer, I benefit from these discounts but also wonder whether the pump prices should be much lower than what it should be,” the former trade official said.
In addition, LKI also observed that prices are adjusted upward or downward weekly, in similar or identical amounts, and that service stations of the oil companies and the new players are selling diesel and other products at the same amount per liter in specific trading area.