MANILA, Philippines?Local oil companies have slashed the prices of their diesel by P0.75 a liter and of their gasoline and kerosene by P0.50 a liter beginning Monday.

Small oil player Eastern Petroleum Corp. was first to implement the rollback Monday, followed by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, PTT Philippines, Chevron Philippines and Seaoil Philippines which all implemented their price cuts effective 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

Petron Corp. will implement the same price adjustments at 6 a.m. Tuesday, said spokesperson Virginia Ruivivar.

The latest rollback reflected a decline in petroleum product prices in the world market, the oil companies said.

Data from the Department of Energy showed that the price of the regional benchmark Dubai crude dropped to an average $76 a barrel in the first 18 days of December, from the previous month?s average of $78 a barrel.

The price of gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark for refined petroleum products fell to an average $81 a barrel as of Dec. 18, from the November average of $82 a barrel.

MOPS-based diesel similarly dropped to an $82 a barrel average in the Dec. 1-18 period from the $85 a barrel average the previous month.