Gasoline prices at the pumps are anticipated to go up by P0.50 to P0.65 per liter next week, based on the result of trading in the world market last week.
For diesel, consumers’ pockets may still experience respite as there might be no change in the cost of the commodity or there could just be a very marginal increase of P0.05 per liter.
Kerosene product prices, on the other, may also be on steady pace or there might even be miniscule rollback of P0.05 per liter.
The dictates of market forces in the country’s deregulated downstream oil industry is generally linked with price swings culled from the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the pricing reference of the industry players.
Prices at oil retail pumps move every Tuesday of the week, hence, the next round will be on August 18 – upon the issuance of warranted notices by the oil companies.
As the country is heavily dependent on oil imports, the realistic drift is that Filipino consumers cannot really break free from the vagaries of global oil market volatilities.