MANILA -- Local oil companies announced a modest rollback in pump prices, hours before President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), adding an extra helping of positivity to the occasion.
This bit of good news was made all the more significant because it seems to suggest a turnaround in world crude prices, which has been on a mostly upward trajectory this month.
In separate advisories, the oil firms announced price reductions of PHP0.25 per liter in gasoline, PHP0.20 per liter in diesel and PHP0.40 per liter in kerosene.
The latest oil price rollback will take effect 6 a.m. on Tuesday (July 23).
Oil executives said tomorrow's price adjustment only reflects the latest movements in the international petroleum market, which is immediately passed on to local consumers.
They reiterated that weekly movements in pump prices are mere "pass through" adjustments, and do not benefit oil firms in any manner.
"It’s only by good luck that this oil price rollback is coinciding with the SONA. Hopefully, we will see more of this soon, but you know the oil market is really a bit volatile by nature," one oil executive said. (PNA)
