DIESEL prices are surging by more than P5 per liter while gasoline prices are climbing by more than P4 per liter this Tuesday, September 8.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said oil prices are going up by the following amounts:
* diesel: P5.18 per liter increase
* gasoline: P4.69 per liter
* kerosene: P5.58 per liter
Ongoing tensions in the Middle East and the depreciation of the peso against the dollar are keeping pump prices up.
Iran’s top negotiator on Sunday, September 6, threatened a more forceful response to any further US attacks after Tehran targeted American warships in their latest round of clashes.
Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz while Washington continues a counter-blockade of Iranian ports. Washington is also seeking to choke Iran’s economy, rolling out sanctions on entities with financial links to the Islamic republic in a bid to force it into submission.
Oil firms last Tuesday, September 1, rolled back prices per liter of gasoline by P1.08, diesel by P2.31, and kerosene by P0.95.
Also on the same day, the price of a typical liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank was down by P0.40 per kilogram. This was equivalent to about P4.40 reduction for a standard 11-kilogram LPG cylinder.
The DOE explained that the LPG price rollback came despite an increase in the international LPG Contract Price (CP), “which rose from $634.00 per metric ton in August to $649.50 per metric ton in September” as this was more than offset by lower freight costs as it declined from $120.82 to $94.41 per metric ton as well as the lower average peso-dollar exchange rate from P61.59:$1 in July to P61.40:$1 in August.
The Energy department said both factors “brought down the overall landed cost of LPG, resulting in the September price rollback.”
“For families who rely on LPG to prepare their meals every day, every peso saved can go toward other household needs. The reduction may be modest, but consumers should benefit whenever market conditions bring costs down,” said Energy Secretary Sharon Garin. (ABS-CBN News | with reports from Agence France-Presse/GMA News)
