Oil firms roll back prices

MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon-weary consumers received a welcome reprieve from local oil firms Saturday as the latter announced significant price reductions.
First to make an announcement Saturday was independent oil firm Flying V Philippines, which reduced its prices by P1.50 per liter on diesel and P0.50 per liter on gasoline. Flying V said the adjustment will take effect Monday, June 27, at 12:01 a.m.
Responding to this were big oil companies Pilipinas Shell, Petron Corp., and Chevron (formerly Caltex) as well as independent players Eastern Petroleum Philippines and Seaoil Philippines, which all bared that they will be cutting prices as early as Sunday.
According to the five companies, they will be slashing P1.75 per liter off diesel, P2 per liter off kerosene, and P0.75 per liter off unleaded and regular gasoline.
Shell, Chevron, and Seaoil's price cuts will be enforced 12:01 a.m. while that of Petron and Eastern will be implemented at 6 a.m.
Representatives from the various oil firms said the movement is meant to reflect the decline in international product prices.
With the rollback, the average price of fuel in Metro Manila will drop to as follows: Unleaded, P54 per liter; diesel, P44 per liter and kerosene, P53 per liter.
The petroleum firms, it may be recalled, have jacked up pump prices each week since May 31.
During that span of time, unleaded prices went up by P1.30 per liter, diesel by P1.75 per liter, and kerosene by P1.55 per liter.