Oil prices will likely go up this week by as much as P0.25 per liter, negating last week’s price rollback.
“Expect fuel prices to go up next week. Diesel should go up by P0.10 to P0.15 per liter and gasoline should go up by P0.15 to P0.25 per liter,” Unioil Philippines said in its advisory Saturday.
On April 2, the country’s oil firms rolled back the price of diesel by P0.30 per liter, kerosene by P0.20 per liter and gasoline by P0.10 per liter.
The rollback put an end to the seven successive weekly oil price increase felt by consumers.
Prior to the expected increase this week, price adjustments since the start of the year have led to a net increase of P6.55 per liter for gasoline, P4.45 per liter for diesel and P3.35 per liter for kerosene.
Monitoring by the Department of Energy showed oil prices remain supported by efforts of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-affiliated allies like Russia to trim output, as well as the plummeting Venezuelan output.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy is still pushing for the unbundling of oil prices to promote transparency in the oil industry.
Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella earlier said the rules are currently being finalized.
“This is a way to address industry take,” he said, adding that oil companies will have to compete in terms of services and prices while consumers have the power to choose while firms to patronize.