Oil companies to cut prices anew

MANILA, Philippines—The local oil companies were set to cut oil prices anew effective on as global oil prices retreated for a third consecutive week.

Oil major Petron Corp. was to roll back the prices of premium gasoline by P2 a liter, regular gasoline by P1.75 a liter, diesel by 50 centavos a liter, and kerosene, by 30 centavos a liter, while Flying V was to implement the same price cuts but only for gasoline and diesel.

Other oil players have yet to announce their respective price adjustments.

This would be the third consecutive time this month that oil companies implemented a rollback reflecting the downward trend of prices in the global market, and the sixth since the beginning of the year—as against the 15 times that these companies jacked up fuel prices during the same period.

Prior to Sunday’s price rollback, diesel was selling for P42.85 to P44.85 per liter, while gasoline retailed for P52.75 to P59.02 a liter, according to a report by the Department of Energy.

In its May 17 oil monitor report, the DOE said the decline in global prices in the previous two weeks was due partly to the faltering oil demand in China, a large unexpected build in the US crude oil stocks and demand downgrade in the International Energy Agency’s latest forecast.