With renewed collapse in global oil prices in the world market, Filipino consumers would be able to enjoy substantial financial relief on their fuel budgets, as the industry players are anticipating big-time rollbacks in pump prices next week.

As calculated by the oil companies, gasoline prices will be cut by P1.20 to P1.30 per liter; while diesel prices will be trimmed by P0.80 to P0.90 per liter at petroleum pumps.

And as travel is being restricted anew, the cost of kerosene which is the base for aviation fuel, will also swing downwards by P0.85 to P0.95 per liter.

The industry players will implement the price reductions on Tuesday (August 24), based on the cost adjustment routine that they are already enforcing across their retail networks; and as anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), which is a pricing reference in the regional market.

For gasoline products though, the oil companies are still recovering the last batch of the quarterly pricing adjustment on their ethanol blend; hence, price rollbacks for this commodity could potentially be offset with P0.20 to P0.25 per liter increase due to higher ethanol prices.

Based on the monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE), the year-to-date adjustments on pump prices still incurred net increases of P13.25 per liter for gasoline; P10.10 per liter for diesel; and P8.30 per liter for gasoline products.

Given the recent surge in new Covid infections, slowdown in global economic recovery is widely projected, hence, the fresh round of precipitous slide in global oil prices.

International benchmark Brent crude dipped to US$65 per barrel in last week’s trading – and that’s a reverse of the US$70 to US$75 per barrel upticks in previous months when demand was already inching faster into recovery route.

Fuel prices have been tumbling in recent weeks, as more and more countries have been re-imposing movement restrictions and hard lockdowns due to the unabated rise of Covid cases; and those have been affecting not just economic activities but also the mobility of their citizens.

In the Philippines, quarantine restrictions had been eased a bit to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from August 21 to 31, but it is still widely expected that most Filipinos will still be confined to work-from-home arrangements.

The second quarter earnings of the oil companies had exhibited ‘green shoots of recovery’ from massive losses they had suffered from last year, but the Delta variant-induced surge in cases has been posing new round of uncertainties on their sales prospects.