Another round of rollback in fuel pump prices could be expected next week, but the motoring public should manage expectations as external factors are still at play, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said Wednesday.

Citing global oil trading in the past two days, Lotilla said a downtrend in petroleum prices is being observed, which could reflect on retail prices in the coming week.

“But, of course, you know that it is volatile and we have to always be ready because we are already moving towards the winter months, [when] normally  prices will increase,” the Energy chief said.

“We have to manage our expectations that this will continuously go down because there are a lot of external factors involved,” he said.

Oil companies usually announce price adjustments every Monday, to be implemented on the following day.

Effective Tuesday, September, fuel firms rolled back the prices per liter of gasoline and diesel by P0.20 each, and kerosene by P0.50. 

However, latest data available from the DOE indicate year-to-date net increases of P17.50 per liter for gasoline, P13.60 per liter for diesel, and P9.94 per liter for diesel as of September 18, 2023.

Nevertheless, Lotilla said, “Let us hope that the external factors like Ukraine and Russia [war] will be resolved so the prices of oil products will normalize.”

The Energy chief urged the public to reduce unnecessary trips or use mass transportation systems to save on fuel expenses. 

Source: DOE’s Lotilla: Fuel price rollback seen, but don’t get hopes up (msn.com)