CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- A price adjustment in cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) greeted consumers as the month of February starts.
The LPG prices are up by P10.45 per 11-kilogram tank, following an increase of up to P3.45 per kilo, or P37.95 per tank last January.
Petron Corporation and other gas firms said that an increase of P0.95 per kilogram was implemented on Thursday, February 1.
They attributed this to the international contract price of LPG for the month of February.
The Department of Energy (DOE in its LPG Monitoring Site refers to Contract Price (CP), commonly called the “Saudi CP” as the primary driver of LPG pricing in the Far East including the Philippines.
It is the international price benchmark set at the beginning of each month by Saudi Arabia’s state - owned oil company Saudi Aramco.
The DOE said the LPG/Saudi CP and forex monthly average changes are the measurement in determining and monitoring the price adjustments of LPG in the domestic market.
Following the timing of the monthly changes in CP, the domestic price of LPG also varies every first day of the month and remains constant throughout the whole month.
The hefty price increase comes even as the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association predicted a reduction of LPG prices in the Philippine market for this month until at least March.
Due to reported weak global demand, the group projected a price hike
starting July 2024.
Latest data from the DOE monitoring shows that prevailing LPG prices ranged from P875 to P1,060 per cylinder.