WORLD OIL PRICES (For June 25-29, 2012 trading days) 

After dipping to 17-months low in the third week of June, oil prices slowly recovered last week, rising back by nearly US$3 a barrel, as the market expected the European Union leader’s two-day summit on the eurozone sovereign debt crisis to deliver significant measures to contain the same. However, prices were being capped by a weak demand outlook, which resulted to a lower week-on-week averages. Dubai crude and diesel decreased by about US$1.50/bbl, while gasoline decreased by less than a dollar.Meanwhile, the market also kept an eye on the confrontation between the West and Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists as solely for peaceful purposes. The European Union’s total embargo on all purchases of Iranian oil was set to tighten effective 1 July 2012. The sanctions are aimed at putting pressure on the Islamic Republic to make concessions on its nuclear program. In reaction to additional sanctions being planned by the West, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, reportedly warned the EU in a letter that it will have "repercussions" on talks over his country's atomic activities. Some analysts are of the opinion that the EU action could potentially reverse the price trend and push world oil prices higher over the next few months, as surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast. Reportedly, the price for premium crude will rebound to more than $114/bbl for the third quarter of this year. But since there are multiple factors driving the world price of oil, including the changing oil dynamic in the Middle East, which produces around 40 percent of the world's oil, some analysts believed that it would be hard to predict prices as it would not be solely dependent on the sanctions on Iran, but would also matter on the increasing output of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

FOREX: The week-on-week average of peso depreciated against the US dollar by P0.14, from P42.27 two weeks ago to P42.41 last week.
Other recommended reference sites: (1) (2) http://www.med.govt.nz/ers/oil_pet/prices/prices.html

DOMESTIC OIL PRICES 

Effective today, 3 July 2012, most oil companies effected a rollback on the prices of diesel by P0.30/L and kerosene by P0.40/L. There was no adjustment on the price of gasoline. Gasoline and diesel have a year-to-date net decrease of P3.92/L and P5.06/L, respectively.

As monitored, shown below are the retail prices in Metro Manila beginning 3 July 2012.

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: http://www.doe.gov.ph