CHAIR of the City Council’s committee on trade and commerce George Goking today said that if there is no letup in the increases in world oil prices, it would risk the city’s economic recovery.
He added that another big-time oil price hike, set to be next week, could make the problems even worse.
“So, if this goes on next week, pump prices could go up by P10, and this would be harmful,” said Goking.
Consumers according to him have to brace for a hefty hike in the prices of petroleum products which takes effect on Tuesday.
At 6 am today, oil companies raised pump prices by P5.85 per liter of diesel, P4.10 per liter of kerosene, and P3.60 per liter of gasoline — already the biggest increase in 10 consecutive weeks of price hikes.
In separate advisories, Caltex, Cleanfuel, Jetti, Petro Gazz, Seaoil, and Shell said they will increase gasoline prices by P3.60 per liter and P5.85 per liter on diesel.
Caltex, Seaoil, and Shell will also hike kerosene prices by P4.10 per liter.
“Local oil prices have been increasing for the past 10 weeks,” said Goking.
He said that during a congressional hearing that Dubai crude already rose to $124 a barrel and even traded at a high of $135 per barrel.
Every $10 per barrel increase translates to a P3 to P4 per liter increase in domestic pump prices, Goking said.
He even explained that except for the pandemic, other hard times coming, the impact of oil prices on ordinary Cagay-anons.
Goking said the first day after Russia invaded Eastern Ukraine – the price of Brent Crude already rose by $3.81 per barrel.
In a statement, he said the price of oil is expected to close above $100.00 per barrel for the first time since 2014.
“They may not be seeing these prices for a long time,” he said adding that what they are seeing is the lowest prices of oil products in the Philippines before Brent crude prices hit above $100 or more per barrel.
The latest drivers for this week’s soaring oil prices in the world market include the discussions to ban Russian crude oil in the United States and Europe as well as the delays in talks of reviving the nuclear deal with Iran.
US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $125.8 per barrel while European oil benchmark Brent crude traded at $129.5 a barrel, according to OilPrice.com.
Based on data from Investing.com, Dubai crude ― the benchmark for the country’s oil prices ― settled at $114.95 per barrel as of March 4.
Earlier, the Department of Energy projected that local oil prices are expected to jump to P68.70 per liter for diesel and P78.33 per liter for gasoline once Dubai crude breached the $120-a-barrel level.
With the big-time price increase on Tuesday morning, a year-to-date price adjustment for gasoline stands a net increment of P13.25 per liter, P17.50 per liter for diesel, and P14.40 per liter for kerosene.
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