Oil firms hike prices anew

INQUIRER.net photo

MANILA, Philippines — Oil prices went up on Tuesday for a fourth straight week, with Shell Pilipinas, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, Jetti and Caltex announcing in separate advisories an increase per liter of 65 centavos in diesel and 60 centavos in kerosene.

Gasoline saw the biggest upward adjustment at P1.60 per liter.

The increases, which were higher than last week’s, took effect at 6 a.m. on July 9, except for Cleanfuel, which said it would implement the new prices at 4 p.m.

READ: 4th fuel price increase seen in as many weeks

Rodela Romero, director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau, attributed the increase to continuing Middle East tensions and other external factors.

“Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, unexpectedly large withdrawals in the US crude inventories and optimistic forecasts for summer fuel demand have all contributed to pushing prices in oil products higher,” she said.

Following several upward price movements, data from the DOE showed that as of July 2, the prices of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene posted year-to-date net increases per liter of P9.25, P8.40 and P1.75, respectively. —with a report from Thony Rose Lesaca