Fuel prices down for second straight week

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – For the second straight week, oil companies have announced a reduction in the prices of petroleum products starting on Tuesday.

In separate advisories, the firms said the price of gasoline would drop by 10 centavos per liter, diesel by P1.05 per liter and kerosene by 45 centavos per liter.

Last week, gasoline also went down per liter by P2.10, diesel by P2.20 and kerosene by P2.55.

This resulted in cumulative increases per liter of P17.45 for gasoline, P29.10 for diesel and P24.30 for kerosene.

Before this week’s downward adjustment, in Metro Manila, gasoline was sold between P63.60 and P83.70 per liter and diesel from P67.60 to P82.25 per liter. The retail price of kerosene per liter was between P73.44 and P85.35, based on the Department of Energy’s price monitoring as of Aug. 11.

On the global scene, the Asian bellwether Dubai crude and the international benchmark Brent crude were trading below the $100 level. As of press time, Dubai crude was at $98.18 per barrel while Brent crude hit $94.74 per barrel.

Any movement in domestic fuel prices is announced by oil companies every Monday, then implemented the next day.

The import cost alone accounts for more than half of domestic fuel prices. Other components include the industry take or the amount comprising the recovery of oil firms’ operating costs and profit margin and taxes.

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