MANILA, Philippines—And just in time for Christmas, too.
New players Seaoil Philippines Inc., Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. and Flying V slashed prices of gasoline by P1-P7 a liter and diesel by P1-P4 a liter.
Seaoil and Unioil implemented the price cut at 2 p.m. Wednesday, with Seaoil adjusting pump prices by P1 a liter for both gasoline and diesel and Unioil reducing by P5-P7 a liter for gasoline products and P4 a liter for diesel.
With the price cuts, Seaoil’s diesel now sells for P31.98 a liter, unleaded gasoline at P31.50 a liter and premium gasoline at P32 a liter.
On the other hand, Unioil’s diesel now retails for P30.97 a liter, unleaded gasoline for P31.49 a liter, premium gasoline for P31.99 a liter and regular unleaded gasoline for P31.21 a liter.
Flying V also had a price rollback of P1 per liter for both gasoline and diesel at noon Wednesday.
Other oil firms have not made any announcements of similar moves as of press time.
However, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. vice president Roberto Kanapi said the oil firm would match prices of Seaoil and Unioil in areas where these oil companies had stations.
“Inevitably, there will be a matching of prices in the various trading areas. Our prices will remain the same, but we’ll have to match in some trading areas,” Kanapi said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“You also have to look at whether or not Unioil rolled back prices the last time we did,” he added.
Unioil last reduced pump prices by P6 a liter on Nov. 26.
Other oil firms, on the other hand, cut pump prices by P2 a liter on Dec. 20 and by P1 a liter on Dec. 12.
World price drop
In an earlier interview, Shell country chair Edgar Chua said the Dec. 20 rollback was the oil firm’s last for the year.
“A portion of that is an advance (reflection of January prices). In January, people can still expect further reductions,” Chua said.
According to data from the Department of Energy, the regional benchmark Dubai crude had dropped to a Dec. 1-22 average of $42 a barrel from the November average of $50 a barrel.
The price of unleaded gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark for refined petroleum products likewise slid to a $42-a-barrel average as of Dec. 22 from the $48-a-barrel average registered last month.
MOPS-based diesel also fell to an average of $63 a barrel in the first 22 days of December from $74 a barrel in November.
Since July 31, gasoline prices have been cut 19 times for a total of P28.50-P34.50 a liter, while diesel prices have been stashed 17 times for a total of P25.50-P28.50 a liter.
