Consumers brace for higher oil prices, new round of fuel tax
Pump prices on Monday rose by as much as P2.30 per liter after crude oil returned to a bull market.
The hefty increase is expected to further burden consumers as they brace for a new round of excise on fuel products starting this month once the old stocks of gas stations are gone.
With the surge in pump prices, jeepney driver Rady Galang may have to ply his route a little longer to cover the cost of diesel.
“I am already exhausted, but do I need to work for more hours so my family will not be poor?” asked Galang, who has been driving the Bel-Air-Washington route in Makati City from 3 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.
Last year, his daily earnings dropped to P800 from the P1,200 he normally took home because of the numerous oil price increases and the first tranche of fuel excise.
Shell, Caltex, PTT, Eastern, Total, Unioil and Seaoil announced an increase of P2.30 per liter of diesel and P1.40 per liter of gasoline.
Article continues after this advertisementShell, Seaoil and Caltex also increased prices of kerosene by P2 per liter.
Article continues after this advertisementLast week, crude oil gained 20 percent from low levels in December last year.
Prices have picked up since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers agreed to cut their collective output by 1.2 million barrels per day.
The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier reminded retailers that inventories bought before Jan. 1 were not subject to the additional excise and value-added tax, and should not be sold to consumers with the pass-on cost of P2.24 per liter of diesel and gasoline, and P1.12 per liter of kerosene.
Without the additional taxes, according to the DOE, the price of diesel would be between P36.35 and P38.23 per liter.
A liter of gasoline with an octane rating of 95 would now be between P41.95 and P54.86, while a liter of kerosene would be at P40.82 to P50.90.
With the additional taxes, a liter of diesel would cost P38.59 to P40.47, gasoline at P44.19 to P57.20, and kerosene at P41.94 to P52.02. —Reports from Ronnel W. Domingo and Dexter Cabalza
