Fuel price expected to drop again, but only a little

To say that fuel price rollbacks are a blessing every week is an understatement. After what appeared like non-stop price hikes in both gasoline and diesel, the last two consecutive rollbacks provided some relief to cash-strapped motorists and businesses. But will price rollbacks continue next week?

According to our friends at PH Fuel Watch, there will be another set of rollbacks. But unlike the last two weeks which saw a major drop in gasoline and diesel pump prices, the new round of price cuts will be smaller.

Based on current estimates, diesel could go down PHP 1.80 per liter while gasoline might drop PHP 0.30 a liter. Should pump prices roll back with these estimates, gasoline prices will be reduced further by PHP 11.00 while diesel prices will be slashed to PHP 9.90 if we add up the price cuts from the past two weeks.

The continued downward trend of pump prices can be attributed to several factors. In China, there are still lockdowns being imposed which are affecting the country's demand. Meanwhile, Russia resumed gas flows to Europe after scheduled maintenance works.

Originally, there were fears that Russia could stop sending oil to Europe entirely due to the European Union (EU) gradually banning Russian gas on the continent. Fortunately, that did not happen as the EU is still facing an energy crisis amidst the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

With price rollbacks set to happen next week, motorists can once again be relieved that they can pay for less when refueling. But since we're still a long way from pre-2022 prices, we're just hoping that more rollbacks will continue to happen.