After more than a month of relentless price hikes at the pumps, consumers can look forward to a financial breather next week as petroleum product prices will be on rollback, according to the industry players.

Based on the initial 4-day calculation of the oil firms, the reduction for gasoline will be heftiest at P1.10 to P1.50 per liter; while diesel prices will be trimmed by P0.40 to P0.80 per liter; and kerosene prices will be pared by P0.35 to P0.75 per liter.

If the price cuts will be reckoned solely on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index, the projected downward adjustments hover at P1.292 per liter for gasoline; P0.638 per liter for diesel; and P0.628 per liter for kerosene products.

The final adjustments will be known after the close of end-week trading this Friday (February 9), hence, the actual cost movements by Tuesday (February 13) may still differ from the preliminary calculations.

Prior to the forthcoming round of oil price movements, the Department of Energy (DOE) logged that cost swings since the start of the year already accrued to a net increase of P5.15 per liter for gasoline, P4.40 per liter for diesel; and P0.85 per liter for kerosene.

Colliding factors have fueled new round of pricing volatilities, although weakness in demand prevailed in last week’s overall market sentiment – consequently leading to downtrend in overall trading prices.

The upticks in recent weeks had been primarily predicated on the escalation of tension in the Middle East, and when proposal of a ‘ceasefire’ between the Israeli and Hamas forces had been raised, pressure on prices eased up a bit.

Nevertheless, the scenario as of Thursday (February 8) trading portend a reverse course and that correspondingly pushed the price of international benchmark Brent crude to a new record hitting $81 per barrel.

As noted by industry experts, Israel’s rejection of the ‘ceasefire’ proposition of Hamas failed to tame the escalating Middle East tension; and that was even aggravated by the killing of a militant commander in Iraq by the US forces.

That latest development in the market, if sustained, is symptomatic of new round of price hikes that will distress Filipino consumers’ pockets anew next week.