Big hike in diesel prices seen next week
Posted: 1:27 AM | Sept. 09, 2004
Ronnel W. Domingo
Inquirer News Service
CONSUMERS should brace for another round of weekly increases in pump prices of petroleum products, with the adjustment seen hitting as high as P2.14 a liter for diesel and P0.47 for gasoline, a private watchdog group said.
The price increases could be done in installments that may begin on Monday, said Raul Concepcion, chairman of the Consumer and Oil Price Watch (COPW).
"In accordance with the agreement among President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Energy Secretary Vincent Perez Jr. and the COPW, the price increase will be staggered weekly and will take effect every Monday thereafter," Concepcion said.
The weekly price increases would be calibrated, depending on the movement of prices of crude oil and finished products, he said.
Among oil companies that import finished products, gasoline prices could go up by P0.47 a liter and diesel prices by P2.14 a liter, Concepcion said.
Oil refiners Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Corp. are expected to raise diesel prices by P0.91 a liter but slash diesel prices by P0.63 a liter, he said.
About 70 percent of Petron's and Shell's supplies are locally refined from Middle Eastern crude oil, and 30 percent is imported from refineries in the region, Concepcion said.
He appealed to Petron and Shell, which have between them 80 percent of the Philippine petroleum market, to be sensitive to consumers' plight and not follow the price increases expected of small companies that import finished products.
The price of imported gasoline increased by $4.98 to $51.50 a barrel in August from $46.52 in July, and the price of imported diesel rose by $5.41 to $51.66 in August from $46.25 in July, Concepcion said.
The price of Dubai crude, including the cost of freight, premium and insurance, increased by $3.90 to $38.55 a barrel in August from $34.65 in July, he said.
Concepcion said he was optimistic that crude oil prices had peaked and that increases in October would be moderate.
Fernando Martinez, chairman of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association, which groups the small importing firms, said Concepcion was "more or less correct in his estimates. The only question now is when and how to implement the increases."
He said this month would likely see a repeat of the past five weeks, when pump prices increased four times.
In the past five weeks, gasoline and diesel prices rose by P1.45 and P1.60 a liter, respectively.
Shell general manager for external affairs, Roberto Kanapi said the oil companies had not fully recovered increased costs in the world market and wanted to have these costs reflected in local prices. With INQ7.net




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