MOBIL Oil Marianas on Tuesday reduced its gasoline prices by 15 cents — the fourth price rollback this month. Shell Marianas is expected to follow suit.
The price of diesel, which was not rolled back last week, also went down by 15 cents Tuesday.
Mobil Oil’s regular gas price went down to $5.86 a gallon from $6.01 a gallon; the premium gas price is now $6.31 a gallon from $6.46 a gallon; and the price of diesel went down to $6.98 a gallon from $7.13 a gallon.
Calvo Enterprises on Rota implemented last week’s rollback, reducing its regular gas price to $7.49 a gallon from $7.64 a gallon, but diesel is still $10.57 a gallon. Calvo Enterprises has yet to implement Tuesday’s rollback.
Former Rep. Daniel O. Quitugua said fuel price rollbacks are good for the consumers.
But he said it is “very frustrating” that not a lot of people know how the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. determines its Fuel Adjustment Charge or FAC in response to changes in fuel prices.
“I think CUC should be forthcoming and explain that to the public so we can understand,” Quitugua said. “If it is something that we must endure, I guess we have no other choice. But I think the lack of explanation and clarity to all of this is depressing actually.”
The Financial Times has reported that fuel prices at the pump in the U.S. “are easing back from the highs reached earlier this summer as the looming threat of recession chills commodity markets.”
“The word that had the most impact on prices dropping was recession,” Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at pricing group OPIS, told the Financial Times. “Markets have priced in a recession — maybe a mild one, but they’ve priced in a recession.”
According to the Financial Times, analysts “say that the recent dip in [fuel] prices could be temporary, as western countries move to limit Russian oil sales and years of under-investment continue to hold back supply. Supply shocks may also cause a sharp reversal.”
The Mobil Oil station on Beach Road in Garapan displays its new prices on Tuesday.
