Local pump prices are set to go up again today, the third increase in as many weeks.
Oil firms announced today that prices of diesel will increase by P0.40 per liter, gasoline by P0.10 per liter, and kerosene by P0.15 per liter.
According to industry sources, oil prices have gone up by 4 percent last week after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) bared its latest plan to cut production.
World oil market monitoring of the Department of Energy (DOE) noted that OPEC members output in December 2018 already declined to 32.43 million barrel per day from 33.06 million barrel per day in November last year.
Meanwhile, DOE said it visited 115 fuel retail outlets nationwide last week to ensure the proper implementation of the second tranche of the oil excise tax.
Twenty-two of these retail outlets were located in Quezon City, 57 in other parts of Luzon, seven in Visayas, and 29 in Mindanao.
DOE said it also issued show cause orders to retail outlets that implemented the increase in excise taxes earlier than expected.
The agency expected the implementation of tax hike between January 15 and February 1.
According to DOE, as of January 17, 1,639 retail outlets or 19 percent of the total 8,630 outlets nationwide implemented the excise tax hike under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.
“We are vigilantly monitoring the implementation of the TRAIN law so that our consumers will be amply protected,” said DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi.* (Kris Crismundo, NDB)