Fuel prices seen to increase next week

Retail prices for petroleum products are expected to go up in the coming week.

According to an oil industry source, pump prices may increase by P0.10 to P0.50 per liter for gasoline and P0.20 to P0.60 per liter for diesel, a report on ''24 Oras Weekend'' on Saturday said.

Earlier, Department of Energy Oil Industry Management Bureau Assistant Director Rodela Romero said that ''based on the MOPS (Mean of Platts Singapore) four-day trading, there might be no adjustment or a minimal increase for the prices of gasoline and kerosene but diesel has an increase of P0.10 to P0.20 per liter.''

“This number might change as a result of the Friday trading,” she said. 

MOPS is the basis for pricing of refined petroleum products in Southeast Asia.

The local oil industry uses MOPS, the daily average of all trading transactions between buyers and sellers of petroleum products as assessed and summarized by Standard and Poor’s Platts.

Romero attributed the expected price adjustments next week to “crude oil prices’ surge on worries about a potential supply shortage during peak winter demand after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their voluntary supply cuts to the end of the year.”

“But they're being counterbalanced by China's faltering economic recovery and weaker global growth, in general,” she said.

Oil companies usually announce price adjustments every Monday, to be implemented on the following day.

On September 5, fuel firms hiked the prices per liter of gasoline by P0.50, diesel by P1.20, and kerosene by P1.10.

The latest price movements resulted in a year-to-date net increase of P15.30 per liter for gasoline, P10.70 per liter diesel, and P7.74 per liter for kerosene.

For the period September 5 to 11, the prevailing retail prices in Metro Manila of gasoline range from P61 to P81.85 per liter, diesel between P59.65 and P74.10 per liter, and kerosene from P78.55 to P80.16 per liter. —AOL/VBL, GMA Integrated News