WORLD OIL PRICES (September 12-16, 2022 trading days)

The week-on-week price of Dubai crude has increased by almost $1.00/bbl. On the contrary, MOPS gasoline has decreased by around $0.95 per barrel as well as MOPS diesel and kerosene by nearly $10.75 per barrel and $11.15 per barrel, respectively.

Reasons for the Price Adjustment¹

• Crude prices fluctuated in volatile trading in the latest week in tandem with broader financial markets as investors weighed mixed demand signals. On the upside, the easing of a two-week lockdown in the Chinese megacity - Chengdu amid declining COVID-19 cases rekindled hopes for near-term demand recovery in the world’s top crude oil importer. On the other side, global recession fears continued to weigh on sentiment.

o Also, prices found some support from the inventory front on the likelihood that the US may be replenishing its strategic oil reserve.

o In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to cut off energy supplies if price caps are imposed on Russia’s oil and gas exports.

o Moreover, the gap between actual OPEC+ production vs quota reached a record-high of 3.61 million b/d in August, raising doubts on how much additional crude the group would be able to pump if the market tightens further.

• Asian gasoline crack fell by $2.89/b on week to $3.22/b at Asian close on Sept.15 as supply from China is expected to rise in the Q4 with the allocation of additional export quotas. Reports say that China’s domestic demand weakness may persuade authorities to allow more product exports, though actual approved and exported volume could fall short given the practical challenges on the logistics front within a short period of time.

• Singapore's commercial stockpiles of light distillates, which include gasoline, reformate and naphtha, dipped by 0.4% to 15.59 million barrels in the week ended September 14, Platts noted the data released by Enterprise Singapore.

• Asian gasoil/diesel cracks collapsed by nearly 50% due to an expected surge in Chinese gasoil outflows and a weekly build in global inventories. The weaker market sentiment reportedly contributed to weekly build-up in global inventories, though stockpile levels in US, Singapore, Japan, and Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp remained below the low end of their seasonal historical ranges.

o Singapore's onshore commercial stockpiles of middle distillates, which include gasoil and kerosene, rose by 3.5% on week to a 12-week high of 8.50 million barrels over Sept. 8-14, according to Enterprise Singapore data, still 21.7% or 2.36 million barrels lower compared with the year-ago level.

o Japan’s gasoil stocks built by 3.1% on week to 13.74 million barrels, still 2.1% or 0.29 million barrels below the year-ago level.

FOREX: Philippine peso depreciated week-on-week against the US dollar by P0.04 to P57.08 from P57.03 in previous week.

DOMESTIC OIL PRICES

Effective 20 September 2022, the oil companies implemented a per liter decrease in diesel by P4.15, and P4.45 for kerosene. No movement has been effected on the price of gasoline.

These resulted to the year-to-date total adjustments to stand at a net increase of P30.65/liter for diesel, and P25.45/liter for kerosene. Gasoline remains at a net increase of P16.50/liter.

For the updated prevailing retail pump price, please browse this link: https://www.doe.gov.ph/price-monitoring-charts?q=retail-pump-prices-metro-manila.

Other recommended reference sites:
    • http://www.aip.com.au/pricing
    • http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=crude-oil-dubai
    • https://www.quandl.com/data/ODA/POILDUB_USD-Dubai-Crude-Oil-Price

For more information, call the

Department of Energy
Pricing: 840-2187
LPG: 840-2130
Fuels: 840-5669
SMS: (0915) 4469421
Email: oilmonitor@doe.gov.ph
Website: https://www.doe.gov.ph

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¹ Asia Pacific Weekly Recap by S & P Global Platts Analytics