There will be mixed bag of adjustments that will greet consumers at the pumps next week, as the price of diesel and kerosene products will be on substantial rollback; while gasoline prices will have slight uptrend, based on the calculation of the oil companies.

According to the estimates of the industry players, the price of diesel will be trimmed by P1.30 to P1.70 per liter; and kerosene prices will be lower by P1.10 to P1.50 per liter.

Conversely, the price of gasoline will rise by P0.35 to P0.75 per liter, which is a magnitude not as hefty as in the adjustments in previous weeks.

The oil firms will be enforcing the new round of cost movements based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index, which is their preferred pricing formula for the deregulated downstream oil sector in the country.

The calculated price movements, as anchored on MOPS, have been P1.419 per liter rollback for diesel andP1.190 per liter for kerosene; while the increase for gasoline prices had been estimated at P0.381 liter.

Nevertheless, the final price adjustments at the domestic pumps may still vary because of other factors, including foreign exchange rate, market premium, biofuel costs and the overall sway of competitive market forces.

The Philippine oil sector has been using MOPS as its pricing reference since most of the industry players are importers of finished petroleum products, but that pricing benchmark still follows the swing of global price movements; while also factoring in unique developments in the Asian markets.

Being an oil import-dependent economy, the Philippines does not have much choice but to deal with the vagaries of gyrating prices in the world market, hence, the economy is always jittery every time prices at the pumps would stride on to their elevated tracks.

According to global experts, the colliding factors which affected the swing of oil prices last week had been those on renewed concerns of slowdown on global economic rebound; while there are also intensifying geopolitical risks -- including the lingering Israel-Palestine war and last Friday’s airstrike of the United States military at a Syrian territory.

For most of trading days last week, international benchmark Brent has been settling at $88 per barrel level; but it escalated anew above $90 per barrel on Friday (October 27) trading, following attacks on Syria as oil market traders have been speculating on possible retaliation of Iran; and such geopolitical risks may also come forth as spillover effect of the niggling Israel-Palestine war.

The Philippine oil market itself has been dealing with its own pain points – not just on improving policy mechanisms on extending subsidy for the public transport sector, but also on improving the tax regime for the industry.