(UPDATED) The Big 3 oil companies in the country - Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Petron Corporation and Chevron Philippines (Caltex) - and 12 smaller oil companies increased pump prices for their gasoline and diesel products by P1.35 per liter and P0.85 per liter, respectively, effective 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019.
Those that raised their prices were Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., PTT Philippines Corp., Seaoil Philippines Inc., Total (Philippines) Corp., Petro Gazz Corporation, Jetti Petroleum Inc., City Oil Philippines Inc., Eastern Petroleum Corp., Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Flying V, Clean Fuel and Filpride.
As of Sept. 10, Department of Energy (DOE) monitoring showed that common gasoline prices in Cebu City ranged from P50.47 to P52.10 per liter while the common price for diesel was P42.79 per liter.
In Mandaue City, the common prices of gasoline were P52.45 to P53.45 per liter while for diesel, P43.95 per liter.
The DOE in the Visayas is monitoring pump prices of Petron Corp., Chevron Philippines (Caltex), Pilipinas Shell and independent oil companies Total, PTT, Phoenix, Flying V and Seaoil.
Enough supply
Meanwhile, Petron assured that it has enough supply in the wake of the drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s oil fields over the weekend.
“We wish to assure the public that there will be no supply disruption from our end. We have adequate supply to support our domestic requirements,” Petron said in a statement.
“Meanwhile, we are closely monitoring the situation and hoping that normalcy will be restored soon,” it added.
Saudi attack
The attack on Saudi Aramco’s facilities wiped out over half of Saudi Arabia’s production capacity and cut about five percent of the global oil supply, causing double-digit jumps in global oil prices when the markets closed on Sept. 16.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. earlier warned that the Saudi attack would impact the Philippines “deeply.”
“This is serious. It will — not could — affect us deeply; to put it bluntly, an oil shortage or steep rise in oil price will rock the Philippine boat & tip it over. So everybody shut the fuck up and focus. No more clowns. Declaring state of emergency won’t save our economy but kill it,” he posted on Twitter on Sept. 15. MVI /SUNSTAR PHILIPPINES