Gas, diesel prices up; kerosene down

MANILA, Philippines — Motorists face another round of fuel price hikes today, although the Department of Energy (DOE) continues to regulate pricing computations to prevent excessive increases.

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin announced yesterday a maximum price increase of P1.21 per liter for gasoline and P2.82 per liter for diesel this week.

Kerosene prices, meanwhile, will be rolled back by at least P2.21 per liter.

“The DOE, for the past four weeks, has prescribed the adjustments, meaning if there’s an increase, we prescribe the maximum increase,” Garin said.

Amid calls from some oil firms to stop the mandated adjustments, the energy chief said the DOE is revisiting the current policy and considering whether to ease the rules.

“We also need to consider that they (oil firms) have their own suppliers and freight costs. We started talks with them last weekend, and we are still reviewing the files they submitted,” she added.

With fuel prices starting to stabilize, former DOE secretary Jericho Petilla earlier told The STAR that the mandated adjustments could force smaller oil firms to suspend operations.

In Metro Manila and highly urbanized cities, diesel is currently sold for as high as P97.65 per liter, while gasoline is priced between P73.68 and P108.18 per liter.

As of May 15, the country’s average fuel inventory stood at 45.33 days, lower than the previous week’s 50.7 days, according to DOE data.

Broken down, gasoline stocks were sufficient for 46.85 days, diesel for 45.74 days, kerosene for 52.12 days, jet fuel for 59.74 days, fuel oil for 50.14 days and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for 30.21 days.

“This is not an alarming state because we are assured of supply from other countries. The DOE remains vigilant about the supply,” Garin said.

She said the DOE is prepared to procure supplies if the inventory reaches below comfortable level. — EJ Macababbad