THE Department of Energy (DOE) hinted of a possible P5 rollback on the price of gasoline and P12 for diesel next week.
In President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Talk to the People,” DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said that in the past two days, the average price of oil in the world market went down to US$104 per barrel.
He said that if this continues, it may be possible for gasoline prices to go down by P5 per liter and about P12 for diesel in the coming week.
Cusi explained that two things will help bring down the prices of crude oil. One is the lockdown in China due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, while the second one is the projected lower demand of oil in China.
He added that the price of oil will only go down if there will be an increase in supply with the removal of sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and Syria.
According to Cusi, these countries will be able to inject more than one million barrels of oil per day in the world’s oil supply if sanctions against them will be removed.
Oil prices will also go down if demand will go down as well and if there will be a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Despite the conflict in Ukraine, Cusi assured that the country has enough supply of oil.