Gas, diesel prices go down Tuesday

IT’S going to be a good week for motorists! 

The prices of petroleum products in the domestic pumps register another hefty reduction for the fourth straight week.

In separate advisories on Monday, local oil companies announced that diesel prices will roll back by P3.40 per liter and gasoline by P1.90 per liter. Kerosene prices will also decline by a hefty P4.40 per liter.

The adjustments will be effective starting tomorrow, December 13.

The Department of Energy said the price reductions were driven by the lower regional demand driven by the return of the Covid-19 lockdown in China due to the resurgence of infections. 

According to a Reuters report, oil also settled lower as traders “shrugged off the closure of a major Canada-to-U.S. crude pipeline, focusing instead on concerns that global economic slowdowns would slash fuel demand.”

As of writing, the DoE still has not updated the data on its weekly oil price monitoring yet, but figures as of 22 November showed that the cumulative increase in gasoline price stood at P18.15 per liter, diesel at P36 per liter, and kerosene at P29.95 per liter.

Meanwhile, the prevailing gasoline prices in Quezon City, Metro Manila’s largest city, range from P58.25 to P67.39 per liter as of 9 December.

Diesel prices, meanwhile, range from P65.99 to P70.59 per liter in Makati City, the country’s top financial hub. In Manila, kerosene sells from P74.06 to P82.85 per liter.

Oil companies announce price adjustments every Monday to be implemented the following day’s morning.

They adjust their prices weekly based on the movement of the Mean of Platts Singapore — the regional pricing benchmark adopted by the deregulated downstream oil sector.