It will be another week of painful drive to petroleum stations this week as the price of diesel products will rise by P0.70 per liter; while gasoline prices will climb by P0.30 per liter, according to the price adjustment advisories of the oil companies.

The industry players similarly advised that the price of kerosene, which is an essential base for aviation fuel and also a vital commodity for households, will incur a heftier increase of P0.80 per liter this week.

As of this writing, the oil firms that already sent notices on their upward price adjustments effective Tuesday (Aug. 29) had been Shell Pilipinas Corp., Seaoil, Cleanfuel and Chevron; while their competitor-firms are all anticipated to follow.

Global oil prices were still ticking up last week because of lingering precariousness of supply-demand fundamentals; and it was the supply tightening sentiment that prevailed in the outcome of trading in recent days.

In fact, there had been seesaw of international trading prices for futures contract, but at the final round-up on Friday (Aug. 25), it was still the price hikes that reigned in those cost swings.

As of Monday (Aug. 28) trading, international benchmark Brent crude softened slightly to the level of $84 per barrel level, but there is no definitive track pointing to probabilities yet that such downward trend in prices will be sustained for the rest of the week.

As noted by experts, one factor that could ease prices would be the portended flow of additional oil supply from Venezuela if the sanctions on that Latin American energy market would be eased by the United States.

Yet while uncertainties hold sway on oil prices, it was emphasized that across end-user segments in the Philippines, it is expected that it will be the public transport sector that will be heavily battered continuously in this eighth series of price escalations at the domestic pumps, because that will redound to extremely trimmed take-home earnings that they will be bringing to their families.

In fact, various transport groups have already filed petitions for fare hike – and while these are still pending for regulatory approvals, they already started triggering distress on the part of the commuters.

The incessant climb in oil prices will also have ripple effect on the country’s inflation rate, because higher fuel prices often precipitate rise in business costs – not just in the logistics needs of goods and services, but also in the production chain of manufacturers.

Being an oil import-dependent economy, Filipino consumers are left with no choice but to bear the financial squeeze that rising fuel prices would be bringing into their pockets.