December 2022 – PIP – Philippine Institute of Petroleum

WORLD OIL PRICES ((November 29-December 2,2022 trading days)

The week-on-week price of Dubai crude has decreased by almost $0.70/bbl. MOPS gasoline, diesel and kerosene have also decreased by about $4.50, $3.60 and $2.70 per barrel, respectively.

Reasons for the Price Adjustment¹

Oil futures came under increased pressure amid growing concerns over Chinese demand due to a continued climb in COVID-19 cases. Public frustration against the Chinese government’s strict zero-tolerance stance to Covid-19 flared into protests in a few major cities across the country.
- The mega cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing however, announced an easing of COVID-19 restrictions Nov 30, a day after protesters in Guangzhou clashed with riot police in a rare mass demonstration of public anger towards the government’s stringent COVID-19 controls.
Expectations of potential supply intervention from the OPEC+ group helped boost oil prices later in the week, following an earlier price slides. The OPEC+ alliance was scheduled to meet online Dec. 4, a day ahead of the EU’s sanctions banning the import of Russian crude, along with a G7 price cap. S&P Commodity Insights estimated the volume of EU imports subject to near-term bans has fallen to 2 million b/d or less.
Asian gasoline crack dropped on week of Dec. 1 Asian close, tracking losses in US RBOB-Brent crack as inventories built.
- South Korea’s domestic gasoline demand increased 0.9% on month and up 13.5% on year, Platts noted of the KNOC provisional data. On the other hand, Japan’s domestic gasoline sales edged lower by 1.2% on month, largely flat compared with a year ago METI data.
Asian gasoil/diesel crack fell on week as of Asian close on Dec. 1. The gasoil East-West EFS² widened by $3.00/mt on week to minus $60.99/mt over the same period, while soaring freight rates for clean tankers eroded arbitrage attractiveness. The EFS averaged minus $60.95/mt in November, versus an average of minus $107.64/mt in October and $67.53/mt in September.
- On the demand side, South Korea’s domestic diesel demand rose 12.5% on month and 9.1% on year in October as noted by Platts, on the back of record tax cuts by the government that cushioned the increase in retail prices at the pump.

FOREX: The week-on-week average of Philippine peso appreciated versus the US dollar by P0.67 to P56.42 from P57.09 in previous week.

DOMESTIC OIL PRICES

Effective 06 December 2022, the oil companies implemented a per liter decrease in gasoline by P1.95, diesel by P1.90 and kerosene by P1.65.

These resulted to the year-to-date total adjustments to stand at a net increase of P14.95/liter for gasoline, P28.00/liter for diesel, and P23.55/liter for kerosene.

For the updated prevailing retail pump price, please browse this link: https://www.doe.gov.ph/price-monitoring-charts?q=retail-pump-prices-metro-manila.

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: https://www.doe.gov.ph

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¹ Asia Pacific Weekly Recap by S & P Global Platts Analytics

2 An exchange of futures for swaps (EFS) is a transaction negotiated privately in which a futures contract for a physical item is exchanged for a cash settled swap contract. EFS gives the market participants a chance to liquidate a swap position in an environment that is normally not very liquid