Consumers not need to worry on increased spending for their fuel budgets this week as the price of gasoline products will be cut by P0.60 per liter, while diesel will be on rollback by a leaner P0.30 per liter. Additionally, kerosene products which are essential for key industries like aviation and even for households, will also be down by P0.60 per liter, based on the pricing adjustment notices sent by the oil companies. As of this writing, the oil firms that already advised on their price cuts effective Tuesday (June 6) had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, PetroGazz and Chevron; while their industry-peers are anticipated to match their initiated pricing trends. Market sentiments last week generally exerted downward pressure on prices, hence, the rollback outcome will be beneficial to oil-importing markets like the Philippines. Nevertheless, that reprieve on consumers’ pockets may not last long as the June 4 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partner-producers (collectively known as OPEC+) already signaled decision on output cuts that may then lift currently sagging international prices. Saudi Arabia, which is the world’s biggest oil producer and the de facto leader of OPEC, primarily declared plan to pare production by 1.0 million barrels per day, and that had been generally regarded as a strategic move to bring prices back to elevated levels. That pronouncement from Saudi Arabia immediately ignited rally in prices – that as of Monday, June 5 trading, international benchmark Brent crude was already flirting in the $77 per barrel territory from a lower $75 per barrel scale last Friday (June 2). Russia, which is another mammoth producer and has been leading the non-OPEC (NOPEC) group in the Vienna alliance, also sounded off lower production quota, although it qualified that such will be subject to review. To note, the OPEC+ league had planned output cuts in April, but that call was not able to sustain cost upticks, due to market fundamentals providing counterweight to the higher prices target of producers – primarily the lingering projections of slower global economic growths. It remains to be seen how the new output reduction target would shape prices in the trading days, although at this stage, there’s already early expectation of price hikes next week.