MANILA – Major oil player Pilipinas Shell yesterday imposed a price hike in the prices of all its petroleum products.

In a text advisory, Shell added P0.50 per liter on its prices of unleaded gasoline, premium gasoline, V-Power, diesel, V-Power diesel; P0.60 per liter on regular gasoline and P1 per liter on kerosene effective 6 a.m. on yesterday. The company said the price increase was made “to reflect increase in international product prices.”

Meanwhile, independent oil company Phoenix Petroleum moved diesel and gasoline prices also by P0.50 per liter. The Department of Energy said over the weekend that an increase of P0.50 per liter on diesel and gasoline is to be expected this week.

The agency’s latest oil monitoring report dated February 13 to 17, bared that oil prices “generally increased during the week in view of the ongoing tension between Iran with the West, and the threat of disruption of supplies.”

Oil firms have now hiked prices for four consecutive weeks. Eight fuel price increases have been implemented so far this year as opposed to only two price rollbacks. On Wednesday, independent oil companies Total Philippines and Eastern Petroleum Philippines imposed a 50 centavos hike in the prices of all their petroleum products. Last week's adjustment saw an increase of P1.15 per liter on premium gasoline, P1:30 per liter on regular gasoline and P0.50 per liter on both diesel and kerosene. In a related development, major liquified petroleum gas Liquigaz Thursday implemented also a price hike P6 per kilo increase on their product prices.

The hike translated to a P66 mark-up per cooking gas cylinder. Liquigaz raised its prices by a still-hefty P5 per kilo last February 1. The company cited rising world contract prices of LPG as reason for its price hikes. Prices of cooking gas were pegged between P750 to P810 per tank at major gasoline stations prior to Thursday.*PNA

back to top