Rino Abad, director of Department of Energy (DOE) - Oil Management Bureau, expects that the prices of petroleum products will continue to drop due to oversupply.
The DOE official explained on Monday, November 28, that the United States, and European countries control the demand for fuel products by adjusting the interest rates.
"Balancing action talaga iyan between the supply na nakikita sa market at sa demand," Abad said during DZRH's Damdaming Bayan.
"But for now, the good thing is nandiyan yung interest hikes, walang plano yung US at Europe na tanggalin yung interest hikes na iyan kaya tuloy-tuloy lang yung nararanasan natin na pagbaba sa fuel demand," he added.
Abad said that the lockdowns enforced by China to control the spread of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) also had an impact on the demand for oil products.
"Ang ating report na nakita ngayon October ay nag-oversupply na tayo ng around 2 million barrels of oil per day ... Ito talaga ay nag-cause ng sunod-sunod na price rollback," Abad said.
However, he warned that the upcoming ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in the first week of December could change the direction of oil price adjustments.
Abad mentioned that OPEC previously decided to reduce oil production by two million barrels per day, and the cartel could announce further output cuts.
"Kung meron sila talagang kakayahan na ibaba nung November at mag-announce sila ulit ng additional na pagbaba, siguradong maniniwala ang market diyan na kaya pala nila," Abad said.
"Malaking spoiler iyan. Mukhang iyan ang makakasira sa iniisip natin tuloy-tuloy na trend ng pagbaba," he stressed.
Local oil firms announced that prices of gasoline will go down by Php 0.85 per liter, diesel will drop by Php 3.95 per liter, and keroses will decrease by Php 2.65 per liter on Tuesday, November 29.
