Fuel price rollback expected next week

Motorists may expect a rollback in retail prices of petroleum products next week, following three straight rounds of upward adjustments in pump prices this year.

According to Department of Energy - Oil Industry Management Bureau (DOE-OIMB) Assistant Director Rodela Romero, the estimated decrease in the prices of fuel are as follows:

• Gasoline — P0.70 to P1.00 per liter
• Diesel — P0.20 to P0.55 per liter
• Kerosene — P0.40 to P0.50 per liter

The projections were based on market developments and international trading over the past four days, Romero said in a brief advisory.

The estimated adjustments for next week's petroleum prices were attributed to the re-opening of refineries and ports in the US Gulf Coast last Wednesday following a winter storm.

Further, the market is also considering how United States President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs will affect global economic growth as well as the demand for energy.

The DOE-OIMB said the final adjustments would be determined after trading today, January 24, and upon factoring in the oil companies' operating expenses.

Prior to the new price forecast, data by GMA Integrated News Research showed that the three consecutive fuel price hikes this year resulted in a cumulative increase of P3.45 per liter for gasoline, P4.30 per liter for kerosene, and P5 per liter for diesel.

Transport group PISTON earlier condemned last Tuesday's fuel price hike, saying the adjustments have been increasingly burdensome for their members already grappling with a high cost of living. — VDV, GMA Integrated News