Fuel price hike set on Tuesday, September 8

After a price rollback last week, motorists will have to tighten their wallets this time, as fuel companies will implement an increase in the prices of petroleum products starting Tuesday, September 8, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

The DOE said Monday that gasoline prices will be up by P4.69 per liter across all grades—RON 91 (regular unleaded), RON 95 (premium unleaded), and RON 97 (high-octane unleaded).

Diesel prices, including Diesel Plus, will increase by P5.18 per liter.

Kerosene, on the other hand, will see a P5.58 increase per liter.

Below are advisories from the companies that have announced adjustments for the week:

Petro Gazz

• Gasoline: + P4.69
• Diesel: + P5.18

Seaoil Philippines Corp.

• Gasoline: + P4.69
• Diesel: + P5.18
• Kerosene: + P5.58

Shell Pilipinas Corp.

• Gasoline: + P4.70
• Diesel: + P5.20
• Kerosene: + P5.60

The adjustments will take effect at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, September 8. Other firms have yet to make similar announcements for the week.

The DOE explained that the ongoing tensions between the US and Iran have resulted in the fuel price increases. It added that the weakening of the Philippine peso against the American dollar was also a factor.

"Basically, this was brought by the increased volatility of the tension between US and Iran. Last September 3, there's an announcement from the US confirming that there's an absence of an active formal peace negotiation between US and Iran. And the second, on September 4, this was reinforced again of another bad news, the Treasury Secretary of the US announced the Operation Economic Outcast Strategy against Iran. This is the intensified sanction against Iran," said DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau Director Rino Abad in a press briefing.

"This basically increased the US dollar cost for importation of petroleum products to around $9 to $10 per barrel," he added.

"There is also a weakening peso against US dollar. The two factors have resulted to the computed increase per liter for this week," he further said.

When asked if there's a chance that per liter prices of fuel products will hit around P100, the DOE official said that fuel products currently range P80 to P100 per liter. However, this is still far from around P150 per liter recorded early this year.

"Ang range ngayon ay P80 to P100 per liter. Pero around that figure, at least malayo pa tayo, naalala ko nung April P155 per liter. Hindi pa naman aabot doon," said Abad.

(The range right now is P80 to P100 per liter. But we are still around that figure, I remember back in April it was P155 per liter. We won't reach that point just yet.) —AOL/RSJ, GMA News