It will be a new round of financial agony for consumers at the pumps this week, as the price of gasoline and products will rise by P0.40 per liter, based on the pricing advisories of oil companies.

Kerosene, which is the base for aviation fuel  and also an essential commodity for households and other industries, will also increase by P0.30 per liter.

As of press time, the oil firms that already sent notices on their price hikes effective Tuesday (May 28) had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation and Cleanfuel; while competitor-firms will generally follow suit.

Prices in the regional market as anchored on the fluctuations of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index had just moved slightly last week due to the anticipated outcome of sustained production trimming by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and ally-producers (collectively known as OPEC+).

The biggest league of world oil producers will meet on June 1, and it is expected that one of their main agenda will be on production quotas that shall be heeded by members, according to market watchers.

It was primarily noted that Russia, in particular, has admitted that it was not able to fully comply with the production cut covenant due to ‘technical difficulties’, hence, its output reached 9.29 million barrels per day last month.

Specifically for the domestic market, fuel prices have also been perturbed by the depreciating value of the local currency versus the US dollar – with the Philippine peso already breaking above P58 to the greenback.

As of Monday (July 27) trading, international benchmark Brent crude climbed slightly to $82 per barrel from last week’s drop to $81 per barrel.

Philippine oil companies generally purchase finished petroleum products because the country has only one refinery now, thus, competitive pricing typically follow swing of traded oil commodities in the regional market.

Apart from foreign exchange rate and the OPEC+ meeting, there are no new other market fundamentals seen yet that could greatly influence prices in the trading days ahead.