Oil prices up again effective April 29

Fuel retailers will again raise the prices of their petroleum products as April ends, marking the second straight week of hikes. In separate advisories on Monday, Petro Gazz, Jetti Petroleum, CleanFuel, Seaoil and Caltex said that effective April 29, the prices per liter of gasoline will go up by P1.35, diesel by 80 centavos and kerosene by 70 centavos. Rodela Romero, assistant director of the Department of Energy’s Oil Industry Management Bureau, earlier said that potential supply issues and the decline in oil inventories of the United States influenced the new round of hikes. “Reasons based on relevant news for the week are the following: fresh US sanctions on Iran’s oil shipping network tighten global crude supply and a sharper-than-expected decline in US crude inventories,” she said. —LISBET K. ESMAEL