WORLD OIL PRICES (April 8-12, 2013 trading days)

Crude oil prices continuously decreased as of second week of April on reports of swelling U.S. crude inventories and disappointing economic data from the United States and several developing economies, as well as deep recession in parts of Europe.

Concerns over the strength of the world economic recovery was further stoked last week, following the release of analysts’ forecast of lower global oil demand growth for the year. The International Energy Administration (IEA), the West's energy watchdog, expected world oil demand to rise by 795,000 b/d (25,000 b/d less than predicted last month) due to weaker-than-expected oil use in developed economies, particularly Europe and Japan, as well as Russia and India.

Also released last week, both the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) lowered their forecasts for demand growth in 2013.

However, despite the crude stock builds and negative economic data, the following were still weighing on the prices of oil:

• On-going tension that remains high between Iran and the West over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme;
• Geopolitical tensions as North Korea appeared to be close to launching a medium-range missile in a show of strength, a move that is seen as a threat by neighbour South Korea and its ally the United States.

As for gasoil/diesel, Platts noted of greater supply than demand in the region. Stocks of kerosene and gasoil in Singapore rose week on week to a six-week high of 10.288 million barrels for the week ended April 11, reportedly due to higher domestic refinery production and higher gasoil imports into Singapore. Arbitrage window to send gasoil to the West also remained shut as the spread between Singapore 500 ppm sulfur gasoil swaps and ICE 0.1% sulfur gasoil futures widened by about $4MT.

On the other hand, Asian gasoline downtrend was tracking the US benchmark gasoline prices after fresh government data showed a further build-up in the country's gasoline supplies amid signs of fading demand.

Week-on-week, Dubai crude decreased by about US$3.60/bbl. Gasoline also dropped by more than US$7/bbl, as well as diesel by almost US$3/bbl.

FOREX: Philippine Peso depreciated against the US dollar by P0.18 to P41.14, from P40.96 in previous week.

Other recommended reference sites: 
(1) http://www.aip.com.au/pricing (2) http://www.med.govt.nz/ers/oil_pet/prices/prices.html

DOMESTIC OIL PRICES

Effective 13 April 2013, most of the oil companies implemented a decrease on their prices of gasoline by P1.65/liter, diesel by P0.55/liter and P0.75/liter for kerosene.

Year-to-date, both gasoline and diesel stood at a net decrease of P1.50/liter and P1.27/liter, respectively, as shown in the table below.

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