The slight weakening of global oil demand recently will just trigger slight adjustments in pump prices next week amid pressure from the strengthening US dollar.
Based on the calculation of the industry players, gasoline prices will likely be unchanged or it could redound to a price hike of P0.05 to P0.10 per liter for premium gasoline and a rollback of P0.05 per liter for regular gasoline; and diesel will rise by P0.25 to P0.30 per liter.
The price of kerosene, which is a base product for aviation fuel, will also climb by P0.25 to P0.35 per liter, according to the oil companies.
The oil firms will implement the new round of price adjustments on Tuesday (July 20); and the cost swings will primarily be anchored on the movement of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index as almost all players in the Philippine petroleum sector are now importers of finished products.
Since the start of the year, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that prices already incurred a net increase of P13.50 per liter for gasoline; P10.60 per liter for diesel; and P9.00 per liter for kerosene.
The global oil market is still lingering on uncertainties as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its ally-producers remain unsettled on how they will be pumping in additional supply into market.
Recent data in the United States showed weakening of demand, easing global prices a bit from continually rising. Other parts of the world though are anticipating slack on their targeted economic recoveries because of the resurgence of coronavirus infections.
In the Asian market, the rising Covid-19 cases in Indonesia which is now considered as the new epicenter of the Delta variant infections, has been seen as a precarious condition that delay economic recoveries in the region.
Its neighbor-countries, including the Philippines, have remained jittery over probabilities that Indonesia’s fate could spillover to other ASEAN jurisdictions, considering surges being experienced now in Malaysia and Thailand.
The strengthening of the US greenback is also putting pressure on domestic pump prices given the very high dependency of the Philippines on oil imports.