Oil prices up this week

MANILA, Philippines — Prices at the domestic pumps are expected to go up this week, citing the ongoing conflict in Israel as among the causes.

Unioil, in its price forecast, expects a P1.30 to P1.50 per liter increase for diesel and from P0.90 to P1.10 per liter for gasoline.

Another oil industry source said the estimates point to more-than-P1 price hikes for both diesel and kerosene, and between P0.85 to P1.10 for gasoline.

The final price adjustments will be announced by oil companies on Monday take effect the following day.

Should the forecasted upward adjustments push through, it would extend the price increases in gasoline to a second straight week, while it would put an end to the two successive weeks of rollbacks in diesel and four consecutive weeks for kerosene.

Last week, local oil companies implemented mixed price adjustments – an increase of P0.55 per liter for gasoline and a decrease of P0.95 per liter for both diesel and kerosene.

Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed these price adjustments resulted in a year-to-date net increase of P12.80 per liter for gasoline, P10.40 per liter diesel and P4.99 per liter for kerosene.

DOE monitoring from Oct. 17 to 19 showed that prevailing retail prices of diesel and diesel plus products in NCR ranged from P57.80 to P70.75 per liter and from P63.90 to P83.90 per liter, respectively.

Gasoline prices, meanwhile, ranged from P57.10 to P85.45 per liter, depending on the RON or research octane number of the fuel.