Gasoline users will have heavier financial burden at the petroleum pumps this week as the price of this commodity will rise by P1.35 per liter, according to the pricing adjustment advisories of the oil companies. Diesel, on the other, will have a leaner price hike of P0.45 per liter, while kerosene will also incur a relatively marginal increase of P0.35 per liter. As of this writing, the oil firms that already sent notices on their upward price adjustments effective Tuesday, July 25, include Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Seaoil, Cleanfuel, and Chevron; while their industry-peers are anticipated to follow. Filipino motorists have been grappling with the wild seesaw in prices again at the pumps as the oil pricing compass still swings in uncertain direction in every week of global trading. The weekly price swings at the domestic pumps is anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the pricing index in the Asian region which also heeds cost movements across international markets. The Chinese market weighed heavily on how world oil prices shaped recently – starting with price softening due to the lower-than-expected economic growth reported by this Asian super power earlier last week. Nevertheless, through the stretch of end-week trading, prices climbed to the level of $81 per barrel anew due to the decision of the US Senate to ban exports from its strategic petroleum reserve to China, hence, that signals possible supply restraint flowing into Asia’s biggest economy. Within the region, what is being closely watched by traders is South Korea’s prospective decision on whether or not it will allow extension of its retail oil tax cuts until next month. For energy markets heavily depending on oil imports, like the Philippines, there is not much choice left for their consumers but to deal with the blows of any wild fluctuations happening in global oil prices. The country has been lining up alternative measures to lessen Filipino consumers’ addiction to oil-powered vehicles, but options like electric vehicles (EVs) may still take time before they will reach mass-scale rollout.