Big-time oil price hike across products await motorists next week, based on advisories by oil companies.
Based on the calculation of the industry players, the price of gasoline will rise by as much as P1.90 to P2.30 per liter; while diesel prices will also climb by P1.95 to P2.35 per liter.
For kerosene, which is an indispensable commodity for many households especially in the rural areas as well as key industries like aviation, its price will increase by P1.70 to P2.00 per liter.
Oil firms will implement the price adjustments on Tuesday, July 18, based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), a price index for traded fuel commodities in the region.
The big jump in prices next week is partly traced to the fresh round of rally in the spot prices of fuel commodities on a global scale, with international benchmark Brent crude breaking above $81 per barrel as of Friday, July 14, trading.
According to global experts, the uptick in prices had been mainly traced to the production cuts of Saudi Arabia extending into August; as well as the export curtailments being enforced by Russia.
Market watchers indicated that "backwardation" appeared to have been the prevailing sentiment in the market last week, entailing that spot prices had been higher than the prices of fuel commodities traded in the futures market.
While there was reported buildup in the inventory of the United States, industry experts noted that such development had been largely unnoticed in last week’s commodities’ trading.
This early, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) already laid down forecasts that demand growth next year will likely top 2.25 million barrels per day, triggering additional pressure on global oil prices.
Compounding the geopolitical factors had been production stoppage in one of the oil fields of Libya, one of the member-producers of OPEC, and that was due to a kidnapping incident involving a former government official.
