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Chevron, Total joins Shell, Unioil in P1.50/L price hikes on Saturday

Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex) and Total Petroleum Philippines Corp. on Friday joined two oil companies in announcing increases in pump prices of fuel products effective Saturday.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation and Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Inc. earlier announced the implementation on Saturday of the 16th round of weekly increases in the pump prices of oil products.

Pilipinas Shell is set to implement its P1.50 per liter hike in the prices of its diesel, gasoline and kerosene products effective 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Unioil said that it will implement its increase of P1.50 per liter for all its fuel products at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Chevron said that it will increase the wholesale purchase prices of its Caltex Gold, Silver, regular gasolines, Powerdiesel, kerosene and fuel oil by P1.50 per liter (inclusive of Value-Added Tax) by 6 a.m. Saturday.

Total Philippines said it will implement a hike in pump prices of its diesel, gasoline and kerosene by P1.50 per liter effective also at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Unioil in a text message cited the continued increase in the pries of petroleum products in the world market and to partially recover its losses. Chevron cited the continuing increase in the prices of Mean of Platts Singapore or MOPS.

Petron Corp. and other independent oil players are expected to follow the four oil companies and implement similar price hikes this weekend.

Weekly protests also continue

Activist youth groups, including the League of Filipino Students, meanwhile stormed the office of Petron Corp. along Buendia Avenue in Makati Friday.

While calling for the scrapping of the Value-Added Tax on petroleum products the demonstrators threw tomatoes at the Petron building and painted slogans on its walls.

With the pump price of diesel expected to breach the P50 per liter mark by early Saturday morning as oil firms again hike prices, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said it held a noise barrage protest for the third straight Friday.

BAYAN said its activists blocked passing oil tankers along E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City “to symbolize public outrage over the unabated increases in oil prices.”

BAYAN said that its “Friday habit” to protest the weekly oil price hikes and increases in prices of other basic goods highlight its call “to cancel the 12% value added tax (VAT) on oil to immediately bring prices down and repeal Republic Act (RA) 8479 or the Oil Deregulation Law.”

“With the anticipated price increases this weekend, removing the VAT on oil will now reduce pump prices of petroleum products by P6-7 per liter, while a month ago it was only P5-6 per liter. This shows the pace and magnitude of the oil price hikes and the substantial cut in prices if the VAT on oil is removed,” said Arnold Padilla of BAYAN’s public information department.

BAYAN said the number of poor Filipinos could go up by 1.2 million by yearend if the oil price increases continue at its current rate.

The group also derided the Arroyo administration’s measures to cushion the impact of the weekly oil price increases. These include the power subsidy program for electricity “lifeline users” and newly enacted tax relief law for minimum wage earners.

BAYAN said the escalating oil prices combined with increases in the prices of food including the subsidized rice of the National Food Authority (NFA), water services, and other basic goods and services made these measures “meaningless.”

The activist multisectoral group to intensify its protests leading to President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address late July.

Oil prices surge above 136 dollars before Jeddah meet

World oil prices meanwhile stormed higher on Friday as OPEC members hit out at consumer demands for more crude ahead of a high-level weekend meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah to discuss rocketing fuel costs.

Prices had fallen sharply Thursday after Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest producer, announced a production hike of 200,000 barrels per day.

News that China would hike domestic oil prices added considerable weight to the downward pressure on the initial view that Beijing’s move would curtail demand in its booming economy.

New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, soared 4.27 dollars to 136.20 dollars per barrel in Friday trade, having hit an all-time high of 139.89 dollars on Monday.

London’s Brent North Sea crude for August jumped 3.95 dollars to 135.95 dollars per barrel, compared with its record peak of 139.32 dollars on Monday.

“The focus for oil prices (Friday) will be the Jeddah Energy Conference this weekend,” said analysts at Barclays Capital in a note sent to clients.

“Set against the backdrop of mounting recent international tensions about oil prices and a drift towards internal regulatory intervention in several countries, the Jeddah meeting has perhaps become symbolic of a collection of potential policy watersheds,” they said.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is widely expected to formally announce an output increase in Jeddah.

Ahead of the conference, a statement posted Thursday on the website of the Saudi embassy in London said the kingdom has decided to boost its daily oil output by 200,000 barrels to help cool record-high crude futures. The statement was later withdrawn without comment or elaboration.

Other leading members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the cartel, which produces 40 percent of world oil, claim that supplies are adequate to meet demand.

OPEC president Chakib Khelil said on Friday it was illogical and irrational to ask the oil cartel to increase output so as to take the pressure off soaring prices, the Algerie Presse Service (APS) news agency reported.

Meanwhile Iran said Friday that increased output would not affect skyrocketing prices.

Consumers such as the United States claim that major oil producers are not producing enough to help cool mounting prices. Saudi Arabia is believed to be the only OPEC member with significant spare output capacity.

Analysts meanwhile argue that further production increases would still be unable to keep up with demand, notably in energy hungry nations such as China and India.

Major oil producers in turn blame the soaring cost of fuel on speculative trade, political unrest and a weak US currency, which makes dollar-priced goods such as oil cheaper for foreign buyers.

Venezuela, one of two Latin American countries in OPEC and a producer that firmly opposes greater output as it seeks to maximize earnings, said overnight that it had decided against sending a delegation to Jeddah.

21st June 2008 | Filed under: In The News | Click here to follow any responses to this entry: RSS 2.0 feed