Motorists using gasoline products will likely benefit from more than P2.00 per liter rollback at the pumps next week, but there’s a bit of bad news for diesel users because the price of that commodity will slightly go up, based on the calculation of the oil companies.

According to the industry players, the price of gasoline will be trimmed by P1.90 to P2.40 per liter; but diesel prices will increase by P0.15 to P0.55 per liter.

On the other hand, the price of kerosene - an essential commodity for households, will have a price reduction of P0.30 to P0.65 per liter.

The mixed bag of price adjustments will be due at the domestic pumps on Tuesday (October 3) and it will be anchored on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index, although the final adjustments could still be affected by other factors such as market premium, foreign exchange rate and biofuel costs.

Prior to next week’s new round of cost movements, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that the aggregate impact of price adjustments since the start of the year still logged net increases of P17.30 per liter for gasoline; P13.40 per liter for diesel; and P9.44 per liter for kerosene.

For Filipino households, they will also be distressed with projected hike in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that may reach a scale of P3.00 to P4.00 per kilogram, as culled from the estimates of various players.

LPG prices, which follow international contract prices trend of Saudi Aramco as a benchmark for the Asian market, will be adjusted October 1 and that will stay for the rest of the month.

On the weekly swing of prices at gasoline stations, global experts noted that the industry fundamentals which affected trading prices last week had been mainly linked to anticipation that Saudi Arabia may be concluding its production cuts anytime soon, hence, that partly softened world prices.

The global market development closely being watched would be the outcome of the scheduled meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and ally-producers (OPEC+) this October 4, especially the move of Saudi Arabia on its output.

Somehow, the two-week cost reduction of most of the products offered breathing space to the Filipino consumers who were already agonizing not just on rising budget at the pumps, but also on the spiraling impact of incessantly climbing fuel prices.

As a largely import-dependent energy market, the Philippines is left with no choice but to wade through the torment of volatile prices of traded fuel commodities internationally.