A new cascade of financial pressure will be on consumers’ pockets this week as gasoline prices will be rising by P1.10 per liter; while diesel prices will go up by a marginal P0.20 per liter.

Propitiously for kerosene products, there will be no cost movement this week, based on the pricing adjustment advisories of the oil companies.

As of press time, the oil companies that already sent notices on their price adjustments effective Tuesday (September 24) had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, PTT Philippines, Jetti Petroleum and Chevron; while their industry peers are all anticipated to follow.

This week’s moderate escalation in prices will be following a series of two-week hefty price cuts in petroleum products, hence, such reverse course in the financial burden of consumers will always come heavier in their weekly budgets.

According to industry experts, market sentiments shifted on the bull trend last week, with international benchmark Brent crude rising above $74 per barrel level as of Friday (September 20) due to array of macroeconomic fundamentals and geopolitical factors that affected trading outcomes.

In the Philippine market, the battle is pivoting into the institutionalization of transparency on oil pricing by segregating the various components being passed on by the oil companies at the pumps.

The call has been intensified by Senate Committee on Energy Vice Chairman Sherwin T. Gatchalian, as he proposed the passage of an enabling law for the propounded fuel cost unbundling that had been upheld in a recent Supreme Court decision.

Essentially, the high court ruling affirmed the validity of a Circular issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2019, primarily requiring the oil companies to itemize or fully disclose the various cost components accounted for in their weekly cost swings at the pumps.

Gatchalian emphasized that the proposed law must “guarantee transparency and fair retail pricing;” and he sees that concretized when the oil companies will be 
disclosing to the public warranted information affecting routine oil price adjustments.

He added that the oil unbundling policy will “address a legislative gap by providing the DOE with explicit authority to require downstream oil industry participants engaged in the retail of petroleum products to submit information on the cost components of the pump prices when the average price of Dubai crude oil for three (3) consecutive months is equal or greater than $80/barrel.”