OIL PRICE WATCH: Big-time rollback looms after Trump’s election rout

MANILA — A big-time rollback for the price of fuel products is expected in the second week of November over hopes that the results of the United States midterm elections could hasten a resolution to the US-Iran war, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Friday.

DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau Assistant Director Rino Abad said the following projection was based on the four-day monitoring in the Mean of Platts Singapore.

• Gasoline: P14 per liter rollback
• Diesel: P5 per liter
• Kerosene: P5 per liter

“Ang gasolina ho ang napakalaki [ng rollback]. Pero ang diesel, well, relatively malaki na rin kasi nasa P5 na, including kerosene,” Abad told DZMM TeleRadyo.

“This is on the expectation of a possible end to the US-Iran conflict because of the result of the midterm election in the US. Ang expectation is mukhang a sentiment talaga ng American people…is masama talaga ang naging effect doon sa walang clear na outlook sa pag-e-end ng conflict sa Iran,” he added.

Iran’s blockade of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, gateway to the Gulf’s energy exports, had sent oil prices soaring, pushing up living costs.

Eight months after US-Israeli strikes started the war, voters angered by rising diesel and consumer prices turned on Trump’s Republicans, who lost control of both chambers of Congress.

The Democrats’ victory gives them the power to block legislation, open investigations into Trump’s administration and influence government budgets, including the Pentagon.

Asked if the plunge in oil prices could be sustained, DOE’s Abad said, “Kailangan masundan ‘yan ng actual recovery in the physical oil supply.”

“Otherwise, may hangganan lang yan, may pagbaba then later on, kaunting problema na naman sa supply, magiging volatile na naman ang price,” he said.