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Philippines faces steep LPG price hike amid Middle East conflict
Industry insiders said that a whopping P385 to P440 spike on an 11-kilogram liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder should be expected starting April 1
- PUBLISHED: Fri 27 Mar 2026, 2:19 PM
[Editor's Note: Follow Khaleej Times live blog amid US-Israel-Iran war for the latest regional developments.]
It is the turn of cooking gas prices to significantly "shoot up” in the Philippines next week as the US-Israel-Iran war shows no sign of de-escalation.
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Industry insiders said that a whopping P385 to P440 spike on an 11-kilogram liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder should be expected starting April 1 due to soaring shipping costs from the Gulf region as well as higher international contract prices.
LPG Marketers Association founder Arnel Ty told reporters that shipping costs shall bring about a P30 per kilo price increase while higher contract prices would add another P5 per kilo of the country’s primary cooking fuel.
LPG would cost about P1,500 (Dh93) per 11-kilogram cylinder, Ty predicted, following price increases of nearly three times in other petroleum products such as diesel, petrol and kerosene since the start of the war.
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Because of the Philippines’ oil industry deregulation law, the government could offer nothing more than “close monitoring” of LPG supply, energy secretary Sharon Garin admitted at a Senate hearing earlier this week.
"One of our major problems now is LPG. So, now, we're starting to go around the restaurants and beverages (stores) because, maybe, we can lower the consumption for a bit until we get the supply coming in,” Garin told legislators.
Approximately, 40% to 50% of Filipino households use LPG as their primary cooking fuel. Around eight million households rely on it daily, with demand in residential and commercial sectors comprising over 89% of total national consumption.
DOE’s March 20 inventory reveals that LPG has the lowest supply in the Philippine fuel inventory with stocks of only 24 days.
While the Philippines enjoys some domestic LPG production, it remains heavily import-dependent in filling up its requirements.
It buys from countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar that are impacted by the war in the Middle East.
