LPG prices also going up

Small businesses worry the Middle East conflict could drive LPG and fuel prices higher.

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MANILA, Philippines — Consumers can expect higher prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and fuel next week, due to ongoing Mideast tensions and the rise in prices of petroleum products in the international market.

Liquefied petroleum gas trader Regasco is set to raise the price of its products by P4 per kilo tomorrow.

In a video message, Regasco president Arnel Ty said the firm got the Department of Energy (DOE)’s approval on Friday to increase prices on Sept. 21.

“The increase is brought about by the rise of petroleum products
 in the international market, which includes LPG,” Ty said in a video posted on the Regasco Facebook page on Saturday.

Contrary to industry estimates, the DOE ordered a P0.40-per-kilo cut in LPG prices this month, citing lower freight costs.

Regasco deferred any price increases, as many provinces in the country declared a state of calamity due to the effects of the monsoon rains.

“But we will not bear the costs anymore if we won’t make any adjustments,” Ty said. “Incoming stocks to replenish our inventories are becoming more expensive.”

Sharp rise

In an interview with One PH’s “One Balita Pilipinas Weekend,” DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau director Rino Abad said the agency-mandated increases for Sept. 22 are P8.82 per liter for diesel, P4.88 for gasoline and P6.47 for kerosene.

“There was a downward trend in the international market, so the increase would not reach P11 per liter,” Abad said.

Jetti Petroleum president Leo Bellas estimated diesel prices would skyrocket by nearly P11 per liter next week, but the figure was only based on four days of trading at the benchmark Mean of Platts Singapore.

Pump prices have been rising after an Iran-backed militia in Iraq struck Saudi Arabia’s East-West Oil Pipeline, a 1,200-kilometer alternative route Aramco uses to bypass the still-closed Strait of Hormuz to ship out oil to international markets.

According to Reuters, industry sources estimate repairing three damaged pumping stations serving the vital pipeline would take about five to six weeks.

The pipeline moves about four to five million barrels per day, representing four to five percent of the global supply, and is being serviced by 11 pumping stations and two separate pressure relief stations.

Traders are forced to rely on other countries like the United States, Canada and Brazil, “but that entails an increase in transport costs because of their distance, and these countries put higher premiums because we’re fighting for supply in areas that we don’t normally rely upon,” Abad said.

The DOE official said the government continues to implement its fuel subsidy program, shelling out P750 million to date to provide a P12-per-liter discount to jeepney and UV Express drivers, capped at 150 liters per week, for total savings of P1,800.

Oil companies, Abad added, continue to offer separate discounts for public utility drivers ranging from P1 to P5 per liter. — Andrew Ronquillo