Philippines: Oil prices hiked for 4th straight week.

This will create real hardship for many who depend upon cheap transportation and also gas for cooking. There will be even more smaller motorcycles. Perhaps pedicabs will come back into fashion! This is from the Inquirer.


Oil prices hiked for 4th straight week Saturday
By Ronnel DomingoPhilippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: June 14, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Oil firms hiked prices of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene by P1.50 a liter and of cooking gas by P1 a kilogram on Saturday, citing yet another surge of world oil prices.
This latest price increase is the 14th this year and the fourth-straight week of adjustments at the announced amounts.
Data from the Department of Energy show that the changes at the pumps brought the average price of unleaded gasoline to P56.46 a liter and of diesel to P49.44, including the 12-percent value-added tax.
An 11-kilogram cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas now costs between P615 and P661.
First to raise prices was Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, followed by Petron Corp., Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc., Chevron Philippines Inc., and Total (Philippines) Corp. at 6 a.m.
According to Petron, the regional benchmark price of Dubai crude averaged $124.27 a barrel in the first two weeks of June or $4.77 higher than May average of $119.50.
Also, the average price of Dubai crude in May was $16 higher than the April average of $103.41
As for LPG, the contract price for June increased by $55 to $907.50 per ton.
DoE data also showed that June 1-10 prices of gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) increased by about $7 per barrel and of diesel by $4 per barrel compared to the previous level in the same period of May.
In its latest price monitoring report, the DoE noted that the all three benchmark crude prices -- including those in New York and London -- "posted peak levels anew within the first two trading weeks of the month."
"In fact, oil prices had their biggest price jump on record last (June 6), soaring nearly $11 to a new record above $138 per barrel," the agency said.
The DoE added that such unprecedented one-day gain in light sweet crude was due primarily to two factors: a sharp depreciation of the dollar against the euro and the pronouncement by a Senior Israeli Minister that an attack on Iran's nuclear sites looked "unavoidable."
The market reacted simultaneously since Iran has been the second-largest oil producer within the OPEC cartel, and any interruptions in its exports could push prices higher, the agency explained.
On the other hand, the DoE noted that Saudi Arabia -- the largest producer in OPEC -- notified all oil companies with which it has been doing business, as well as consumer nations, of its readiness to provide them with additional quantities of oil they would need.
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