Oil prices are expected to decrease further after two sets of oil price hikes in the past few days due to the conflict between Iran and Israel, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Sunday.

In a radio interview, DOE Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Sharon Garin said she expects oil prices to decrease in the next few days.

"According to our calculations, there will definitely be a rollback on Tuesday but if the international market price will further decrease next week, it (oil prices) will also lower next week", Garin said.

Garin said from Monday to Friday last week the average rollback per liter of gasoline is around P1.72 and P2.21 per liter of diesel.

Last week, diesel went to up to P5 a liter and gasoline averaged P3.50 a liter.

In a Palace press briefing on Monday, Garin attributed the sudden reduction in oil prices to the recent proclamations of United States President Donald Trump regarding the conflict between Iran and Israel.

"As of yesterday, it was in the high 70s, now it's at 69. It's probably back because of [US] President Trump's proclamations and all the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. The effect of that is, the industry has calmed down, there's less speculation so it went down to 69 as of this morning", Garin added.

Meanwhile, in its fuel price forecast on Saturday, Unioil said that fuel prices are expected to decrease from July 1 to July 7.

Gasoline is expected to go down by P1.70 to P2 per liter while diesel is expected to go down by P1.30 to P1.50 per liter. Marie Manalili/DMS