Fuel prices dip on first trading day amid talks between US, Iran

MANILA— Fuel prices dipped on the first day of trading in the world market.

Figures from the initial day of trading at the Mean of Platts Singapore indicate a downward trend for all fuel products:

Diesel        P7.40/L ⬇️

Gasoline   P1.35/L  ⬇️

Kerosene  P6.80/L ⬇️

The market hopes that something positive will come out in the UN talks between Iran and the US as well as Saudi Arabia’s promise to fix the damaged oil pipeline leading towards the Bad Almandab Straight.

If the downward trend is sustained, this will be the first time after three weeks of oil price hikes. Fuel prices have increased by the following amounts in the last three weeks:

Diesel       P18.31/L ⬆️

Gasolina  P15.25/L ⬆️

Kerosene P16.67/L ⬆️

Regular diesel prices have now reached over P100 per liter in many gasoline stations in Metro Manila while premium diesel cost over P110.

Gasoline prices are above P90 per liter but below P100 still after today’s spike.

According to the Department of Energy, as of September 21, domestic fuel prices have increased by the following amounts since the start of the year: 

• P65.02/liter for gasoline,

• P64.86/liter for diesel, and

• P58.07/liter for kerosene

This does not yet take into account the latest price hikes that take effect today.

Meanwhile, the Visayas Grid is again back under yellow alert for the second straight day after a couple of plants that returned online last week broke down again while “imported” power from Mindanao becomes limited.

The yellow alert is from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., as the available capacity can barely cover the projected peak demand:

Available Capacity   2,504MW

Peak Demand.          2,419MW

Based on NGCP’s advisory, a total of 32 power plants are on shutdown while 16 plants are running on derated capacity, for a total of 928.4MW unavailable to the grid.