Big players join 'big-time' fuel price rollback
May 14, 2011, 7:56pm
By ELLSON QUISMORIO, Manila Bulletin
MANILA, Philippines — Several oil players enforced “big-time” reductions on their pump prices at different times Saturday even as one of them hiked its price for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The weekend price movement was initiated by Seaoil Philippines, which at 12:01 a.m. Saturday pulled down prices of diesel and kerosene by P2 per liter.
The rollback also covered prices of premium and unleaded gasoline, which were slashed P1.50 a liter and those of regular gasoline, which was dropped by P1 per liter.
Other independent players Total Philippines imposed a similar rollback at 6 a.m. while Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Inc. (UPPI) said it matched the cutback of its rival oil companies.
Meanwhile, Total, a major LPG player in the local market, said it increased its cooking gas prices by P1 a kilo at around the same time.
Among the “Big Three” oil firms, only Pilipinas Shell announced a price adjustment as of press time Saturday afternoon.
In a text advisory, the oil giant said that it would slash pump prices by the same increments effective 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Reports also said that Petron will also join the rollback bandwagon.
Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex) has yet to announce price tweaks as of press time.
Despite this, Saturday marked the first time this year that oil companies implemented back-to-back reductions on pump prices. Luckily for consumers, both adjustments have been significant ones.
Citing the decline in international product prices, local oil firms last May 7 rolled back diesel by P1.75 a liter; kerosene by P2 a liter, unleaded gasoline by P0.50 a liter and regular gasoline by P1.25 a liter.
The average prices of fuel in Metro Manila are now as follows: P46.50
a liter for diesel; P56.50 a liter for unleaded and P55 a liter for kerosene.