The price increase for diesel fuel may go higher than projections and hit an additional P4 per liter by Tuesday, as Russia and Saudi Arabia continue to cut down on oil production, Energy Director Rino Abad said.
The Department of Energy had already confirmed Friday the projections that diesel will likely go up by P3.40 to P3.60 per liter, kerosene by P2.45 to P2.65 per liter, and gasoline by P0.15 to P0.35 per liter, based on the benchmark Mean of Platts Singapore trading and foreign exchange movement for the first four days of the week.
But Abad said China also delivered on its commitment to reduce oil production this month, as kerosene prices are also seen rising by P2.70 to P3 per liter, while gasoline will go up by P0.20 to P0.50 per liter.
This means diesel prices will have increased by around P10/liter for the past five weeks, while gasoline prices have already risen by P5/liter for the same period.
However, Leo Bellas, president of Jetti Petroleum, doesn’t see oil prices rising as drastically as last year when diesel reached an all-time high of P83.70 per liter in June.
“It will go higher, but we don’t see it going past or reaching the levels it did last year,” Bellas told ABS-CBN News.
“China actually delivered on their commitment to reduce their production of oil this July, bringing it down to 860,000 barrels,” Abad told Teleradyo Serbisyo on Saturday.
“But at the same time, because (China’s) commitment (is to produce under) 1 million (barrels), coincidentally Russia made the same pronouncement, when before it did not make the same commitment in July. But all of a sudden, this month or next month they can cut an additional 5,000 barrels per day,” he added.
In an advisory, fuel firm Unioil said diesel will increase its products by P3.70 to P3.90 per liter, while gasoline will go up by P0.20 to P0.40 per liter.
This comes just a week after a major pump price hike of P3.50 for diesel, P2.10 for gasoline, and P3.25 for kerosene.
It’s also the fifth straight week of increases for diesel and kerosene and the fourth in a row for gasoline.