Motorists using gasoline will need to earmark higher budget this week for their vehicle refueling, while diesel is slightly lower.

In pricing notices sent to the media, oil companies stated that the price of gasoline will climb by P0.95 per liter while diesel prices at the pumps will increase by P0.50 per liter.

Kerosene, a commodity used in households and key industries, primarily as a base fuel for airlines, will be on a marginal rollback of P0.15 per liter.

As of press time, the oil firms that already announced their price adjustments effective Tuesday (January 17) had been Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Seaoil, Cleanfuel, PetroGazz and Chevron; while their competitor-companies are all anticipated to follow.

This is already the third price adjustment this January as anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS). The first week of the year had been price hikes, then followed by a rollback in the succeeding week.

The factors which exerted pressure on global oil prices last week had been the eased inflation data in the United States because that entails demand ticking up in the world’s biggest economy compared to the time when Americans were complaining of "financial pain" every time they fill up their vehicles at the pumps during the initial weeks of the protracted Russia-Ukraine war.

That development, however, was partly neutralized by the lingering uncertainty of China’s reopening, as their Covid infections are still rising – with reports indicating that it already touched record-high of 900 million last week.

As of Monday, Jan. 16, trading, international benchmark Brent crude softened to the level of $84 per barrel, which is more than $1.0 per barrel lower from last week’s $86 per barrel mark.

Market watchers noted though that there is no clear indication yet that prices will be on its downward trajectory, since geopolitical events that could influence prices could still strike any time within the week.

Being an import-dependent oil market, is it highly anticipated that the Philippines will be continually saddled with vagaries of pricing volatilities in the world market.