For the 15th time this year, Filipino consumers will again experience dramatic price spikes on oil products on Tuesday, May 10, just a day after the election of the next President and other leaders of the country.

Based on the calculation of the oil companies, the price of gasoline will be increased by P4.30 to P4.50 per liter while diesel will also incur significant hike of P3.80 to P4.00 per liter.

Kerosene product, which is generally utilized as base fuel for the aviation sector and also an important commodity for other industries, will have significant adjustment of P4.65 to P4.85 per liter.

Global oil prices had been on another wave of upswings last week, with international benchmark Brent crude climbing anew to the level of $112 to $113 per barrel; while Dubai crude, which is the reference pricing for Asian markets, hovered at $106 per barrel.

The price hikes followed another oil price rally last week on fears of supply disruption triggered by the continued efforts of the European Union (EU) to ban Russian oil.

Another factor igniting jitters in the market is the proposed passage of a bill in the Senate of the United States, known as the NOPEC Bill, that will push for antitrust lawsuits against the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its ally-producers (OPEC+), for allegedly orchestrating supply cuts which then resulted in surging oil prices.

Last week, the EU was trying to push for Russian oil embargo but that still ended up in a deadlock as member-countries failed to agree on specific timeframe of enforcement as well the supply phaseout target date.

According to market watchers, Germany has been spearheading the call for total Russian oil embargo, but other EU member-countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, have been batting for exemption from the proposed supply cut.

In the meeting of the OPEC+ members last May 5, the oil cartel group agreed to expand production by 432,000 barrels per day by next month. But OPEC+ did not tackle any potential supply disruption because of prospective Russian oil ban.

In the Philippines, the government is currently assuring sufficiency of oil supply as it is critical in the transport of election paraphernalia for the May 9 polls as well as of election results, thereafter.

So far, the Department of Energy (DOE) guaranteed that there will be ample supply to support not just the fuel requirements during the election period, but also for the use of the motorists and across the supply chain of the economy.