Consumers will feel the heat of a budget swell on their cooking fuel this month as the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will rise by a hefty P6.64 to P6.65 per kilogram or P73.04 to P73.15 for the standard 11-kilogram cylinder.

Leading industry player Petron Corporation advised of LPG price hike of P6.65 per kg for its Gasul LPG; and that was matched by Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. for its Super LPG brand; while Solane implemented slightly lower adjustment of P6.64 per kg.

The price adjustments had been effective Friday (September 1) and that will stay for the rest of the month, being the pricing routine for LPG products in the country.

For autoLPG, which is used for vehicles as alternative fuel, Petron and Phoenix Petroleum similarly announced an increase of P3.70 per liter, to be retailed at their pumps within this month’s duration.

According to the LPG firms, the upswing in prices was mainly attributed to the escalation of international contract prices that had been benchmarked on Saudi Aramco, being the reference pricing for Asian markets.

A monitoring of the Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown $94 per metric ton (MT) upswing in global contract prices to $557 per MT this September from $463 per MT a month ago.

Following this new round of price hikes, the pick-up price of LPG products at various retail outlets will already range from P841.20 to P1.058.20 per tank.

It is not only households that will be experiencing added financial strain on higher LPG prices, but even other segments depending on this commodity, such as the street food vendors as well as restaurants and even hotels that have been using it as a fuel for their cooking needs.

The increasing weight of LPG prices on consumers’ wallets may not be their only dilemma in the days ahead, as even pump prices are seen tracking uptrend again in next week’s price hikes.

It will already be the ninth wave in series of price increases that started in July; and had been incessantly assaulting consumers at the pumps on a weekly basis – especially those that have been surviving on limited incomes.

On four-day average calculated by the oil companies based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index, diesel prices are anticipated to climb by P0.85 to P1.25 per liter; gasoline by P0.20 to P0.60 per liter; and kerosene by P0.90 to P1.30 per liter.

The elevated fuel prices will not also calm the public transport sector on their bid for fare hikes, and that in turn, will trigger domino effect not just on consumers’ daily commute to their workplaces but also on the costs of basic commodities.