Motorists using gasoline products in their vehicles will have to brace for heavier financial burden next week, as the price of this commodity is anticipated to rise by more than P1.00 per liter, based on the initial estimate of the oil companies. According to industry players, gasoline prices will likely increase by P1.05 to P1.45 per liter; while diesel prices may have very marginal rollback of P0.05 per liter or price would be unchanged. For kerosene, which is an indispensable commodity for industrial applications as well as lighting and fuel solutions to many household consumers, its price is estimated to go down by P0.25 to P0.45 per liter. The oil firms will be adjusting their prices on Tuesday (May 30) and it would continue to be anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the price discovery tool being employed by fuel commodity traders in the Asian market, including buyers and sellers of crude oil and finished petroleum products. Prior to this round of adjustment, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that cost swings since the start of the year accrued net increase of P5.00 per liter for gasoline products; while there had been aggregate decline of P5.05 per liter for diesel and P6.40 per liter for kerosene. This is the second week in a row that prices have been fluctuating with mixed outcomes, given that prices in the world market are still generally treading across horizontal movements – entailing then that forces of supply and demand are relatively equal. The seemingly hefty rise in gasoline prices had been attributed by industry experts to the tightening of gas supply in the United States ahead of their summer driving season. In the Asian market, the spotlight is still on China’s fluttering demand being the mammoth consumer in the region; and close scrutiny is on projected rebound of its industrial activities post-pandemic. As noted by commodity traders, global oil markets somehow calmed down last week following the emergence of a clearer picture on how the United States will be pursuing its debt ceiling plan so it can avoid threatening government shutdown. A counterbalance to that development had been the market-perceived contrasting pronouncements of Russia and Saudi Arabia when it comes to the likely tenor of discussion on production cuts during the June 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its non-OPEC partner-producers. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has sounded off that oil markets could be hurt by sheared supply, but Russia quelled industry jitters after hinting that a new decision on output cut remains implausible.