PNA file photo
MANILA – The Department of Energy (DOE) is expecting a new round of oil price hike next week after five consecutive weeks of rollbacks in prices of diesel and kerosene.
During the Laging Handa public briefing Friday, DOE director Rino Abad estimated that there will be an increase of less than PHP1 on gasoline prices, around PHP4 hike on diesel prices, and more than PHP2 increment on kerosene prices next week.
This, as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) announced to slash oil production by 2 million barrels per day, its biggest cut since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Mukhang ang epekto po nitong desisyon ng OPEC ay tanggalin po iyong nakikinitang oversupply na iyan na nagku-cause ng tuluy-tuloy na rollback sa kadahilanan na … ang reason naman ng pronouncement nila ay i-stabilize po ang price (It seems that the effect of this decision by OPEC is to remove that oversupply, which is causing a continuous rollback. The reason of their pronouncement is to stabilize the price,” Abad said.
He said current price of crude oil in the world market is around USD90 per barrel, lower than the USD125 per barrel last June.
“Ayaw na po nila siguro na bumaba pa sa mga around 90. So ang target po talaga diyan, ang tinitingnan po ng mga analysts ay dapat … mukhang ang plano ay paakyatin po ng 100 to 110 (Maybe they don't want (prices) to go down to around 90 (US dollars per barrel). So, the real target there, what the analysts are looking at should be... it looks like the plan is to raise it by 100 to 110 (US dollars per barrel),” he added.
As of writing, Brent crude is trading at USD94.85 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at USD88.87 a barrel.
With the price adjustments last Tuesday, net increase in prices of gasoline since the start of 2022 stood at PHP24.40 per liter, PHP35.95 per liter for diesel, and PHP29.30 per liter for kerosene. (PNA)
