Big-Time Oil Price Rollback Set

The renewed plunge in global fuel prices and appreciation of the peso will ease the financial burden of local consumers as oil companies estimated big-time price rollback at the pumps by Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Photo Insert: Based on their calculations, the price of gasoline products will be reduced by P2.00 to P2.30 per liter, while diesel prices will have a heftier decline of P2.90 to P3.20 per liter. Kerosene, the other commodity in the triumvirate of weekly adjustments will also be pared by P2.65 to P2.95 per liter.

Based on their calculations, the price of gasoline products will be reduced by P2.00 to P2.30 per liter, while diesel prices will have a heftier decline of P2.90 to P3.20 per liter. Kerosene, the other commodity in the triumvirate of weekly adjustments will also be pared by P2.65 to P2.95 per liter.

The rollback in the domestic petroleum prices is based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) as well as the impact of the appreciation of the Philippine peso versus the US dollar.

Prior to the forthcoming round of price adjustments, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that cost movements since the start of the year logged net increases of P7.20 per liter for gasoline products; P3.05 per liter for diesel; and P4.55 per liter for kerosene products.

According to global experts, the bearish market sentiment for oil last week had been due to forecasts that inflationary pressures on markets have already been easing; the slower-than-expected industrial activity even after China’s reopening; and the tamer interest rate adjustments being enforced by the US Federal Reserve.

They emphasized that the price cap imposition by the European Union (EU) on Russia could have exerted upward pressure on prices, but the absence of a formal document for firm application of the policy still kept prices lower. It was noted that a draft version of the EU product price cap targets to peg high-value

Russian oil products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel at $100 per barrel while lower value products like fuel oil and naphtha at $45 per barrel.

There was also no big news that came forth from last week’s meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and ally-producers (OPEC+), as the powerful global oil producers just kept output target steady on hopes that China’s demand uptick will eventually gobble up available market supply.

As of Friday, Jan. 3 trading, international benchmark Brent crude futures plummeted to as low as $79 per barrel, taking a reverse direction from a high of $86 per barrel in the past week.

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