UniOil slashes prices of diesel, kerosene products

MANILA, Philippines - Small oil firm UniOil Petroleum Philippines Inc (UPPI) on Tuesday afternoon rolled back the prices of its diesel and kerosene products. UPPI General Manager Chito Medina-Cue Jr. told GMANews.TV that the price cut took effect 2:01 p.m. Tuesday: P2.28 per liter for diesel and P2 per liter for kerosene. After the price cut, UniOil's diesel products are now sold at P26.69 per liter from last month's P28.97. Diesel for public utility vehicles (PUVs) is pegged at P24.94. UniOil said the latest price cuts had made their diesel and kerosene products "more competitive" by between P0.54 and P2.24 per liter. The oil firm did not announce any price adjustment for their gasoline products. "We decided to implement the latest price cutback in Diesel and Kerosene products sold by our retail stations due to the recent price reduction in crude at the international market," Medina-Cue said. In a radio dzBB interview, UniOil lawyer Raymond Zorilla also said that the declining demand for diesel and kerosene could have contributed to the price reduction. “Ang diesel at kerosene nagso-soften sa world market probably mahina ang demand. Pero sa gasoline patuloy ang pagtaas [Unlike gasoline prices, diesel and kerosene prices are softening in the world market probably due to a weak demand.]," Zorilla said. Unioil has adjusted diesel and kerosene prices a total of 17 since July last year. The last rollback was last January 26 when it cut prices by P2 per liter. Earlier in the day, Seaoil Philippines, Pilipinas Shell, and PTT Philippines all implemented respective price adjustments on the prices of their fuel products. Seaoil and Shell both implemented a 50-centavo rollback on their diesel, and P1 cut on their kerosene products. PTT, the Philippine unit of Thailand's largest oil firm, made a similar 50-centavo cutback which only covered its diesel products. However, the price cuts of Seaoil, Shell, and PTT were all accompanied with a 50-centavo price hike for gasoline. - GMANews.TV