(File photo)
MANILA – Consumers have to brace for a hefty hike in the prices of petroleum products which takes effect on Tuesday.
In separate advisories, Caltex, Cleanfuel, Jetti, Petro Gazz, Seaoil, and Shell said they will increase gasoline prices by PHP3.60 per liter and PHP5.85 per liter on diesel.
Caltex, Seaoil, and Shell will also hike kerosene prices by PHP4.10 per liter.
Local oil prices have been increasing for the past 10 weeks.
The latest drivers for this week’s soaring oil prices in the world market include the discussions to ban Russian crude oil in the United States and Europe as well as the delays in talks of reviving the nuclear deal with Iran.
As of this writing, US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at USD125.8 per barrel while European oil benchmark Brent crude traded at USD129.5 a barrel, according to OilPrice.com.
Based on data from Investing.com, Dubai crude -- the benchmark for the country’s oil prices -- settled at USD114.95 per barrel as of March 4.
Earlier, the Department of Energy projected that local oil prices are expected to jump to PHP68.70 per liter for diesel and PHP78.33 per liter for gasoline once Dubai crude breached the USD120-a-barrel level.
With the big-time price increase on Tuesday morning, a year-to-date price adjustment for gasoline stands a net increment of PHP13.25 per liter, PHP17.50 per liter for diesel, and PHP14.40 per liter for kerosene. (PNA)
