Oil companies announce hefty fuel price cuts effective Monday

MANILA, Philippines – Local oil companies are to implement hefty rollbacks in the prices of petroleum products starting early Monday to reflect an equally drastic drop in the price of oil in the international market.

Effective 12:01 a.m. Monday (October 29), Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Seaoil Philippines will cut the prices of premium gasoline by a hefty P2.15 a liter, regular gasoline by P1.70 a liter and diesel and kerosene by P1.35 a liter. Phoenix Petroleum will be implementing the same oil price adjustments by 6 a.m. Monday.

Eastern Petroleum announced it, too, was implementing a rollback of P2 a liter for premium gasoline, P1.75 a liter for regular gasoline and P1.35 a liter for diesel and kerosene products effective one stroke after midnight Sunday.

The price rollback, according to Eastern Petroleum chairman Fernando Martinez, is due to the negative sentiment of traders owing to the slow economic recovery in Europe and the US. This adjustment bodes well for the “motorists heading for very long weekend vacations starting Thursday,” Martinez added.

Other oil companies are expected to announce soon their respective price adjustments.

Last week, oil companies cut the prices of premium gasoline by 90 centavos a liter, regular gasoline by 40 centavos a liter, diesel by 35 centavos a liter, and kerosene by 25 centavos a liter.

A report by the Department of Energy said oil prices see-sawed early this month as traders have been trying to gauge the strength of global oil demand, while watching developments in Syria and for any signs of supply disruptions in the Middle East.