Oil Monitor as of 20 May 2020

Date published: May 24, 2020

WORLD OIL PRICES (May 11-15, 2020 trading days)

Dubai crude increased week-on-week by almost US$3/bbl.  MOPS gasoline and diesel increased as well by nearly US$4 and US$3 per barrel, respectively.

Reasons for the Adjustment

  • The International Energy Agency sees signs that oil market rebalancing would be faster than previously expected. In its May Oil Market Report, IEA trimmed its forecast for oil demand reduction in 2020 to be 8.6 million b/d, lower than its April demand forecast of 9.3 million b/d reduction for the year.
  • Crude oil throughput at China's domestic refineries edged up 0.8% year on year to 13.16 million b/d or 53.85 million metric tons in April, posting the first uptick since the coronavirus outbreak, the country's National Bureau of Statistics data showed.  Chinese crude throughput is expected to continue its upward momentum in May, as companies make room for excess crude purchased at low prices in March. According to a trade flow tracker (Klper), China's seaborne crude imports were estimated at 11.1 million b/d in May, up 37.6% from April.
  • Crude spot demand for June and July loading cargoes firmed during the week causing higher premiums of up to $4 to $5 over official selling prices of varied crude types.  The high uptick was said to have been due to cuts in monthly crude allocations from producers aimed at clearing excess supply from the market.
  • Price hikes from producers, such as Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), in tandem with production cuts to monthly volume allocations, brought Asian crude buyers to the spot market in search of cheaper alternatives by the latter half of the week.

FOREX: Philippine peso appreciated week-on-week against the US dollar by P0.14 to 50.39, from P50.53 in previous week.

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

DOMESTIC OIL PRICES

Effective 19 May 2020, the oil companies implemented an increase in petroleum products P1.25/liter for gasoline P0.55/liter for diesel and P2.35 – P2.40 per liter for kerosene.

This brings the total year-to-date adjustments to stand at net decrease of P11.27/liter for gasoline, P14.54/liter for diesel and P18.88/liter for kerosene.

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.

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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