Motorists should expect fuel prices to further go up in the coming week, Unioil Petroleum Philippines said.
Unioil said based on its fuel price projections for January 25 to January 31, the price per liter of diesel may increase by P1.80 to P1.90, while gasoline prices are seen to rise by P1.40 to P1.50 per liter.
Earlier, oil firms implemented pump price increases of petroleum. The Department of Energy meanwhile said that year-to-date adjustments of prices stand at a net increase of P2.60 per liter for gasoline, P3.50 per liter for diesel, and P2.74 per liter for kerosene as of January 11.
On Tuesday, the country’s oil firms raised pump prices by as much as P2.30 per liter effective 6am to reflect the movement of prices in the world oil market.
The oil firms raised the price of kerosene by P2.30 per liter, diesel by P1.80 per liter and gasoline by P0.90 per liter as global worries over the Omicron variant eased.
This is the third consecutive weekly oil price hike for the month of January.
Seaoil, PetroGazz, and Cleanfuel also raised pump prices, while other oil firms are expected to follow suit.
Over the weekend, Unioil Petroleum Philippines announced its forecast oil price hike of P1.80 per liter for diesel and P0.90 per liter for gasoline “to reflect the changes in the international oil market.”
On January 11, the oil companies implemented a price increase in domestic oil products. Gasoline increased by P0.75 per liter, P1 to P1.10 per liter for diesel and kerosene by P0.90 per liter. These resulted in the year-to-date adjustments to stand at a total net increase of P2.60 per liter for gasoline, P3.50 per liter for diesel and P2.75 per liter for kerosene.
Crude prices started on a bullish tone this year as the market saw limited impact on demand recovery from the Omicron coronavirus variant, according to the Department of Energy’s monitoring.
The gas and diesel market also got a boost from the sudden ban in coal exports by Indonesia, as Asian utility producers could possibly be switching to gas oil to cover the coal-fired power generation shortfall.