OIL COMPANIES will be raising the prices of gasoline products by P0.10 per liter (/L) this week while cutting diesel prices by the same amount.
The price of kerosene will also be reduced by P0.35/L, the oil firms that sent their advisories as of Monday afternoon said.
They will be implementing the price adjustment at 6:00 on Tuesday, March 5.
“Medyo humina ang demand from China and Japan (Demand from China and Japan slightly eased),” said Energy Undersecretary William Felix B. Fuentebella in a press conference on Monday.
He said the lower demand, primarily from the slowing down of activities in Chinese factories, was coupled by a similar slowdown in India, a country that previously reported strong economic growth rates.
The slowdown comes as fuel supply from the US sharply increased, he added.
COCONUT CONTENT
Meanwhile, Mr. Fuentebella also said the Energy department has to sit down with the Department of Agriculture on the latter’s proposal to increase the required percentage of coconut content in producing blended diesel or biodiesel.
He was reacting to a statement made by Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian urging the DoE and the National Biofuels Board (NBB) to thoroughly study the proposal.
The chair of the Senate committee on energy and co-chair of the joint Congressional biofuels oversight committee made the call after Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol announced that he would be lobbying for the increase of biofuel content in diesel from B2 to B5 to absorb the oversupply in the copra industry.
B2 biodiesel is a blend of 2% agricultural products and 98% clean diesel, while B5 biodiesel is a blend of 5% agricultural products and 95% clean diesel. — Victor V. Saulon

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