Consumers’ financial pain would be back at the pumps this week as the price of diesel products will rise by P1.30 per liter, while gasoline products will also escalate by P0.95 per liter, according to the pricing adjustment advisories of the industry players.

Kerosene, which is the other commodity in the triplet of weekly cost movements will likewise increase by P1.25 per liter, as advised by the oil firms.

As of press time, the oil companies that already sent notices on their price hikes had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Seaoil, Cleanfuel, Chevron and PetroGazz effective Tuesday (October 24); while their industry rivals are highly anticipated to follow this week’s price trends.

The weekly routine on price adjustments is being anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), which manifests the trading outcome of finished petroleum products in the Asian region, and this has been the pricing reference being employed by the players in the deregulated downstream oil sector of the Philippines.

This new round of uptick in petroleum costs followed at least a month of softened prices at the pumps – with some weeks yielding massive price rollbacks; while the rest have been mixed adjustments.

The major events which triggered upswing in international prices last week, according to experts, had been the plan of the United States on replenishment of its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR); as well as emerging sentiments of probable long drawn-out war between Israel and Palestine.

For major oil producer Iran, the US also propounded further imposition of sanctions, hence, that added up to ‘uncertainty concerns’ in the market last week.

International benchmark Brent crude clawed its way back into having $93 per barrel new record price last week, although as of Monday (October 23) trading, that had already been tempered to $91 per barrel scale.

The fresh wave of oil price uptrends would bring despair to most Filipino consumers – as many are not just preparing for this forthcoming long weekend for prospective travel breaks, but also for added expenses for the Christmas holidays.

Fundamentally, high oil prices would not just doom the paychecks and wallets of consumers, this will also set off domino effect on the supply chain of businesses, transport fares as well as in the intertwined macroeconomic fundamentals of the country, primarily on inflationary impacts.