Prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products may rise again next month, in contrast to the continued rollback in fuel pump prices in the next few weeks, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Sunday.
Although the Energy Department did not project the amount of the increase, LPG prices went up this month by P3.50 per kilogram, and AutoLPG prices rose by P1.96 per liter, according to Petron Corp.
Rino Abad, DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau director, said the months of November and December are usually “in the impact period” of LPG inventory build-up.
“The chance is really big. I don’t want to say 100% as I don’t have a report yet, but there is a big chance that the LPG prices will increase,” Abad said in a radio dzBB interview,
“What I’m comfortable with is that LPG prices will ease out in January, February, and March because that’s the utilization period,” he added.
Despite this, Abad said it was possible the pump prices of fuel may continue to fall in the next two weeks.
“There is a big chance that it will continue again probably for another week… In the coming week, I can really see that there is still a chance that the rollback will continue. That is very clear about what is happening,” he said.
“Probably for the next two weeks, there is still a chance but in the long run, we are not sure,” Abad added.
On Saturday, Rodela Romero, DOE-OIMB Assistant Director, attributed the rollback to the increasing COVID-19 cases in mainland China, the higher crude inventory in the United States, and the price cap imposedon Russian crude.
Citing oil trading from November 21 to 25, oil industry sources told the Standard the price per liter of diesel may go down by P3.90 to P4.20.
Gasoline prices, meanwhile, may be slashed by P1.20 to P1.50 per liter.