MANILA, Philippines—Just days after they said they could no longer cut prices, oil firms reduced pump prices of gasoline by P1 to P3 a liter and of diesel and kerosene by P1 a liter.

Leading the rollback was Seaoil Philippines Inc., which slashed gasoline prices by P3 a liter and diesel and kerosene prices by P1 a liter, at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Eastern Petroleum Corp. implemented the same price adjustments at stations that have Seaoil outlets in the vicinity.

Petron, Pilipinas Shell, Chevron Philippines, and PTT Philippines followed suit with P1-a-liter reductions for gasoline, diesel and kerosene at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

Total (Philippines) reduced prices by the same level at 6 a.m.

Since August, prices of gasoline have gone down by a total of P25.50 a liter and of diesel by P22.50 a liter amid plunging crude prices in the international market.

Nothing more to cut

With the reductions, the price of premium unleaded gasoline now ranges from P33.46 to P39.60 a liter, of diesel from P31 to P35.48 a liter, and of kerosene from P39.50 to P48.15 a liter.

Total managing director Anna Whitehouse on Wednesday said there was no more room for the oil firm to implement another rollback up to the end of the year.

“The successive rollbacks really hurt us. We maintained our supply despite the rising prices in the past months. The [Department of Energy] recognized us as a reliable supplier, but we’ll close the year in the red,” she said.

The country’s three largest oil firms—Petron, Shell and Chevron—shared the same sentiment. At a meeting with energy officials on Tuesday they said they had nothing more to cut as they would end 2008 with a net loss.

Too slow

Oil firms have been accused of being too slow in cutting prices when crude costs go down and of being too quick in raising prices when crude costs go up.

Data from the energy department showed that the regional benchmark Dubai crude had dropped to a Dec. 1-10 average of $42 a barrel, from $50 a barrel last month.

The price of unleaded gasoline, based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark for refined petroleum products, also fell to an average of $38 a barrel in the first 10 days of December, from last month’s $48-a-barrel average.

MOPS-based diesel also slid to a $54-a-barrel average as of Dec. 10, from $64 a barrel in November.