PRICES of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products may spike again next month, but the rollback in fuel pump prices may still continue in the next few weeks, the Department of Energy (DOE) said yesterday.
DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau director, Atty. Rino Abad, said in a radio interview that the months of November and December are usually in the impact period of LPG inventory build-up.
“Malaki po talaga ang [chance]. Ayaw kong sabihin na 100%, wala pa akong hinahawakan na report, pero malaki ang tsansa na magkakaroon pa rin tayo ng increase,” he said.
“Ang comfortable talaga ako na January, February, at March, ay medyo mag-e-ease out ‘yan kasi ‘yan po ay utilization period na,” he added.
For this month, the prices of LPG products went up by P3.50 per kilogram, and AutoLPG prices increased by P1.96 per liter, according to Petron Corp.
Despite this, Abad brought up the possibility that the pump prices of fuel may continue to decrease in the next two weeks, at least.
“Malaki po ang tsansa na, again, tumuloy probably for another more week… Sa darating na linggo, talagang nakikita na tingin ko, may tsansa pa rin na may tumuloy ang mga rollback. ‘Yan po ay very clear sa nangyayari,” he said. “Probably for the two weeks, medyo may tyansa pa but on the long run, hindi tayo sigurado.”
DOE-OIMB Assistant Director Rodela Romero on Saturday, Nov. 26, attributed the anticipated big-time fuel price rollback to the increasing COVID-19 cases in mainland China, higher crude inventory in the United States, and the price cap imposed on Russian crude.
Citing oil trading in the past five days (Nov. 21 to 25), an oil industry source said that the price per liter of diesel may go down by P3.90 to P4.20.
Gasoline prices, meanwhile, may be slashed by P1.20 to P1.50 per liter. (GMA Integrated News)
