Motorists will have a frustrating drive to the petroleum service stations this week as they will be greeted with diesel prices rising by P0.90 per liter; while diesel prices will be going up by P0.45 per liter.

Kerosene, which is their cousin in the weekly triumvirate of price adjustments, will have a relatively moderate increase of P0.30 per liter.

As of this writing, the oil companies that already sent notices on their price hikes effective Tuesday (October 1) had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Cleanfuel, Seaoil, Chevron, Jetti Petroleum and PTT Philippines; while their industry peers are anticipated to match this week’s price climbs.

It was a wild seesaw in global oil prices last week, with the initial trading days pulling prices to the level of $75 per barrel for international benchmark Brent crude; but it softened drastically to $71 per barrel toward the weekend.

Apart from escalated prices at the pumps, there will be added squeeze on household budgets as the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is also anticipated to climb starting October 1.

The LPG industry players are expected to announce their cost movements later in the day, and these price adjustments will stay for the rest of the month.

For the oil commodities being retailed at the pumps, the main factors which influenced price swings had been the strike of hurricane Helene which affected even the oil-producing domains in the US Gulf of Mexico.

On the economic front, the stimulus package unveiled by China somehow lifted market sentiments, hence, that had driven prices up in initial trading days last week.

However, market fundamentals shifted following news of Saudi Arabia’s production hike plan – and that precipitated sudden plunge in international prices, thus, the resulting price adjustments this week ended up leaner compared to preliminary calculations.

Industry experts cited ‘oversupply fears’ as the main factor which caused global prices to plunge, as the world’s biggest oil producer sounded off plans to retake its significant share in oil markets.