WORLD OIL PRICES (December 9-13, 2013 trading days)

Along with the price trend of Brent crude, Dubai traded lower this week on the prospect that strengthening U.S. economy could persuade the Federal Reserve to begin curbing its commodity-friendly stimulus. Recently, US data disclosed that the country’s jobless rate fell last month to its lowest since November 2008, fuelling speculation that the Fed might act when it holds its next policy meeting on December 17-18.

But off-setting this assumption was the trade figures from China, which added to recent signs that economic growth is stabilizing. China’s exports was reportedly well above forecasts in November, rising almost 13 percent from a year earlier, while imports was up by 5 percent. Moreover, crude imports by China, the world's second largest consumer, reached 23.56 million tons in November, or 5.73 million barrels per day (bpd), up 19.1 percent from the previous month on a daily basis.

Other factors affecting crude price movements were as follows:

• Cold weather that dented oil and gas production in the United States;
• Keystone pipeline would be in service by next month to deliver crude from U.S. storage hub Cushing;
• Gasoline and distillate supplies in the US increased last week more than three times than analysts were expecting.

As regards gasoline, Platts stressed that gasoline sentiment in the Asian market was mixed after a recent run up seen in cracks, and further decline in Singapore's inventories this week to near four-month lows. It added that fundamentals heading into the year-end are observed to be balanced. For January, while it is a relatively strong month for gasoline cracks in Asia, the recent gains could also draw in excess supplies.

Meanwhile, surplus diesel/gasoil in Asia continued to weigh on market sentiment as demand remained tepid for the region's top demand centers. Year-end 2013 saw normal demand on the back of the stronger Chinese market, but with Chinese New Year in late January, demand for next month is still unclear. However, despite tight current supply, the Singapore market continued to be weighed down by the prospect of a surplus from the Persian Gulf, given the closed East-to-West arbitrage.

Week-on-week Dubai crude decreased by almost a dollar per barrel. MOPS diesel decreased as well by nearly US$3/bbl while gasoline increased by about half a dollar.

FOREX: Week-on-week Peso per US dollar rate depreciated by P0.36 to P44.16, from P43.80 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 17 December 2013, the oil companies implemented a decrease in diesel by P0.55/liter and an increase in gasoline by P0.40/liter.

Year-to-date net increase for diesel stands at P3.83/liter and gasoline at P2.44/liter.

* RON 95

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