Cooking gas up by P16.50 per 11-kg cylinder

MANILA, Philippines – Liquefied petroleum gas retailers and oil giant Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. raised prices of cooking gas by P1.50 per kilogram, effective Tuesday.

This meant that the price of an 11-kg LPG cylinder, used by most households, has increased by P16.50, LPG Marketers Association (LPGMA) president Arnel Ty said.

Ty explained in a phone interview that the latest increase in the international contract price of LPG was due to the continuing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.

“There was an abnormality in the movement of prices due to the crisis in Libya,” he said.

Normally, Ty added, prices of LPG should have begun its downtrend last month up to August before prices begin to shoot up again in the latter part of the year, in anticipation of the winter season.

Ty said the international contract price this month rose by $35 per metric ton to $855 per MT from last month’s price of $820 per MT.

Locally, this had brought the price of an LPG tank from LPGMA member companies to at least P656 from the previous P640 a cylinder.

LPGMA member companies, which supply LPG products to an estimated 30 percent of the Luzon market, carry brands such as Island Gas, Regasco Gas, Pinnacle Gas, Cat Gas, M-Gas, Omni Gas and Nation Gas.

Ty said they were hoping that the political conflicts abroad would soon be resolved so that LPG prices could stabilize by next month. (report from Amy R. Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer)