Pump prices seen going up this week in Philippines

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Pump prices are expected to increase this week following a rollback last week.

In its price forecast, Unioil said diesel prices could increase by P1.30 to P1.50 per liter, while gasoline prices could go up by P0.10 to P0.30 per liter.

An oil industry source, on the other hand, sees a more than P1-per-liter increase for diesel and kerosene, and a price hike of P0.10 to P0.40 per liter for gasoline.

The final price adjustments will be announced by oil companies tomorrow and shall take effect past midnight on Tuesday.

Should the forecast in prices push through, it would end the four straight weeks of rollbacks in the price of kerosene.

Diesel and gasoline, meanwhile, were also coming from a price rollback last week.

Last Tuesday, oil firms reduced gasoline prices by P0.70 per liter, diesel by P1.30 per liter and kerosene by P1.80 per liter.

These resulted in a year-to-date net decrease of P2.40 per liter for diesel and P2.30 per liter for kerosene, while gasoline posted a net increase of P5.30 per liter, data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed.

These adjustments in local pump prices reflect the movement in the international oil market.