For the third time this year, Filipino motorists will be on a breather as prices at the petroleum pumps will be on a new round of rollback this Tuesday, April 12.

Oil companies have announced price cuts of P1.00 per liter for gasoline products and diesel by a slimmer reduction of P0.35 per liter, according to the industry players.

Of the three fuel commodities covered by the weekly adjustments, the biggest rollback would be for kerosene at the scale of P3.00 per liter, providing a major relief to the industries especially the aviation sector, which is using it as base fuel.

As of this writing, the oil companies that already sent advisories on their price reductions include Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Cleanfuel, PetroGazz, Seaoil, Chevron and PTT Philippines; while the other players are expected to follow the pricing trends set by their competitors.

Oil prices in the global market settled below $100 per barrel last week due to the pledged withdrawal from the strategic petroleum reserves of the United States and the member-countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

For the IEA members alone, they are planning the release of a total of 20 million barrels from their stockpiles over a six-month period to cushion expected wild price gyrations in the months ahead.

The US, which is the biggest oil consumer in the world, had earlier committed 60 million barrels drawdown from its SPR, which then served as the initial stimulus to the plunge in prices when it was announced last March 31.

The price cuts though are still seen as very temporary respite for consumers, as there is no certainty yet that global oil prices will stabilize soon.

The surge in fuel prices in the world market had been primarily triggered by the lingering Russia-Ukraine war, which has no end in sight yet.

Currently, the critical segments of the Philippine economy being hit by soaring oil prices -- such as the public transport and agricultural sectors -- are being aided by the government with fuel subsidies.

Nevertheless, that has also been causing a lot of agitation of the beneficiary-sectors because of the very slow pace of distribution of financial aid, especially to the highly vulnerable bloc of the public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers.