Fuel prices slashed significantly

MANILA: As global demand for fuel has decreased, oil companies in the Philippines are dramatically reducing prices.

Effective today, March 24, the country's oil firms introduced another massive price rollback of about P3.50 per liter to represent the movement of costs in the global oil industry. Fuel companies have slashed the price of both kerosene and gasoline by P3.50 per liter and by P2.00 per liter for diesel.

Petron has set implementation of the price rollbacks starting today at 6 a.m. Other oil companies like PTT Philippines, Petro Gazz, Total Philippines, Seaoil Philippines, and Shell Petroleum Philippines have reduced prices as well.

Phoenix Petroleum Philippines cut pump prices earlier last March 21 beginning at 6 a.m. — less P3.00 per liter of gasoline and a less P2.00 per liter of diesel.

This is considered as the third consecutive rollback in oil prices, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect countries extensively. The immense reduction came as global oil demand plummeted during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The first oil price rollback for March occurred on March 3 when oil companies like Shell, Phoenix Petroleum, Chevron, Clean Fuel, Petro Gazz, and Petron reduced their prices by P1.60 per liter for diesel and by P1.40 per liter for gasoline. Oil companies that carried kerosene implemented a rollback of P1.65 per liter. Both Phoenix Petroleum and Clean Fuel made adjustments in their oil prices earlier than the other oil firms.

A second price rollback of P4.25 per liter for diesel and gasoline, and P4.35 to P4.50 per liter for kerosene ensued from March 14 to 17.

Meanwhile, China, the largest oil importer worldwide, has seen the demand plunge as factories have been forced to suspend operations amid the pandemic.

Global fuel prices have dropped during the past few weeks. The oil price reduction occurred after Russia dismissed the request of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for more significant supply curbs following the decrease in global demand.

This caused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Riyadh to claim that they scaled up output to record levels.

Russia is expected to return completely to production levels attained before the OPEC+ agreement in October 2018. This restored approximately 200,000 barrels for every production of oil. Saudi Aramco also outlined plans to increase its output to more than 12 million barrels per day beginning April this year.

Based on the latest data of the Department of Energy, the year-to-date changes in Philippine fuel prices are currently at a net reduction of P12.79 per liter for kerosene, P11.00 per liter for diesel, and P9.35 per liter for gasoline.