Consumers will still feel the pinch of higher oil prices at the pumps next week, although calculated adjustments will be coming at relatively moderate amounts compared to the past two weeks.

Based on the estimates of the oil companies, the price of gasoline products will rise by P0.50 to P0.90 per liter; while diesel will incur an increase of P0.30 to P0.70 per liter; and kerosene prices will go up by P0.20 to P0.60 per liter.

If cost movements will be anchored purely on the four-day trading outcome of the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) index, the projected adjustments had been: P0.524 per liter for gasoline; P0.307 per liter for diesel and P0.216 per liter for kerosene products.

Prior to the forthcoming round of adjustments, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) has shown that pricing seesaw since the start of the year already logged net increases of P8.30 per liter for gasoline, P7.75 per liter for diesel and P1.40 per liter for kerosene.

Prices in the regional market had not moved as much in the past trading days, although international benchmark Brent crude started escalating anew beyond $86 per barrel as of Friday (June 28) trading.

According to industry experts, the same market fundamentals have been affecting swing in prices although the impact had been tamed somehow in the past trading days.

On the terrain of geopolitics, renewed tension due to the new wave of attacks by the Houthi militants on commercial tankers at the Red Sea had driven prices higher in recent weeks.

Additionally, prospects of demand buildup have been gripping through key markets – primarily for China, which is one of the world’s biggest oil consumers.

Inventory draw in the US market, as well as anticipated decisions on interest rates have also been exerting pressure on oil markets, hence, the overall impact of uptrend persisting in the industry.

For the Philippine market, pricing volatilities will continue to afflict its consumers due to its very high dependence on importation of oil commodities.