Bad news for motorists using diesel on their vehicles as the cost of this fuel commodity will rise by P2.90 per liter, substantially higher than the earlier-calculated adjustment due to higher freight costs, according to the oil companies.

For gasoline products, the price hike would be P0.70 per liter; while kerosene prices will increase by P1.65 per liter effective Tuesday (December 20).

As of press time, oil firms that already sent notices for the price adjustments include Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, PetroGazz and PTT Philippines; while their rival firms are all anticipated to follow.

The oil firms will be implementing cost movements at the pumps based on the swing of prices as anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the pricing reference adopted by the domestic downstream oil industry.

This week’s escalation in pump prices was a shift from the series of rollbacks that had been dominating the Philippine oil market since the last week of October.

Until now though, the movement of prices at the domestic pumps remained as the ‘biggest puzzle’ yet to be fully unraveled to consumers – because the lack of ‘fuel cost unbundling policy’ enables the oil companies to keep their pricing strategies veiled with secrecy.

On the global scene, there had been fresh round of rally in prices due to anticipation of China’s reopening from strict Covid lockdowns, as well as the extended impact of an oil spill from a pipeline delivering oil from Canada.

Prices though were partly tamed by the successive interest rate hikes enforced by the US Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Bank of England; as that development is seen to rein in consumer spending.

As of Monday, Dec. 19 trading, spot price for international benchmark Brent crude was still hovering at over $79 per barrel; while Dubai crude, which is the reference pricing for Asian markets, has been at $76 per barrel scale.

Market watchers are projecting that for the remaining days of the year, international oil prices may remain elevated, hence, the next round of adjustments may still track uptrends.