Oil firms raise pump prices of diesel, gasoline

Pump prices jumped the highest in more than two months, P1.10 per liter of diesel and 85 centavos per liter of gasoline, as oil inventories in the world’s two largest economies—the United States and China—declined last week. Caltex was first to increase at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, followed by Petron, Shell, Seaoil, and PTT at 6 a.m. Cleanfuel raised prices at 4:01 p.m. Also, Petron, Shell, Caltex and Seaoil raised prices of kerosene by P1 per liter. Dubai crude, the Asian bellwether, rose to $57.69 per barrel on Feb. 3 from $54.81 per barrel a week earlier. —Ronnel W. Domingo