Consumers may expect lower gasoline prices this week but no movement in diesel prices, a distributor said Sunday.
“Expect fuel prices to have a mixed movement next week [July 21 to 27]. Diesel should have no price movement and gasoline should go down by P0.20 per liter,” Unioil Philippines said.
World oil prices were affected last week by weak global economic data and a slowdown in consumption.
Last week, the oil firms raised the price of gasoline by P0.65 per liter, kerosene by P0.40 per liter and diesel by P0.30 per liter.
The total year-to-date adjustments now stand at a net decrease of P4.97 per liter of gasoline, P8.54 per liter of diesel and P12.99 per liter of kerosene, according to data from the Energy department.
Petron Corporation, meanwhile, announced it had extended its fuel subsidy to the participating vehicle units in the Free Ride Service for the Health Workers Program until July 31.
The extension follows the government’s decision to extend the General Community Quarantine in Metro Manila until July 31, and following the continuing increase in COVID-19 cases.
Since April 7, Petron has been providing free fuel to the vehicles of transport companies participating in the Transportation department’s Free Ride Service for the Health Workers Program in the Greater Manila Area. The program aims to ferry front-line health workers to hospitals and medical communities daily as the Philippines continues its fight against the spread of COVID-19.
Petron has provided the program with 255,000 liters of diesel fuel worth P7.913 million as of July 17. Petron's fuel subsidy was made possible through the donation of San Miguel Corp. Infrastructure.
Petron says it will be providing 60 vehicles participating in the department’s Free Ride Service for the Health Workers Program with 50 liters of fuel each per day, or a total daily allocation of 3,000 liters daily until July 31, 2020.
Four Petron stations were initially assigned to accommodate the participating private bus units carrying front liners. These Petron stations are at Filinvest in Alabang, Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque City, East Avenue in Quezon City and in Mandaluyong City.
Petron aside, the Transportation department has also teamed up with other oil firms, such as CleanFuel and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., which also extended their respective fuel subsidy programs until May 31.