Price hike: Diesel up by PHP 6.85 per liter, gas PHP 1.20

Expect a long queue of diesel vehicles at your nearest filling stations today.

After consecutive weeks of rollbacks, oil companies will implement a price hike of PHP 6.85 per liter for diesel, PHP 3.50 for kerosene, and PHP 1.20 per liter for gasoline fuel products. Shell and CleanFuel were the first ones to issue an advisory, and will make their changes at 6:00 AM and 8:01 AM tomorrow, October 11.

The oil price hike comes after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) announced they will reduce oil production by 2 million barrels per day due to the uncertainty surrounding the global economy and oil market outlooks. This made global crude oil prices jump to a five-week high last Friday, with Brent crude knocking at USD 100 per barrel territory once again.

OPEC+ will reduce oil production in November, but the effect will already be felt as early as tomorrow. We hate to say it, but we should brace ourselves for the possibility that price hikes will continue in the coming weeks.

Locally, this week's price hike will already undo the recent rollbacks for diesel. And based on the Department of Energy’s monitoring, year-in cumulative increases stand at P14.45 per liter for gasoline, P28.95 per liter for diesel, and P23.25 per liter for kerosene.

With a gloomy outlook for the coming weeks in terms of fuel prices, we may have no choice but to fill up while prices are low and squeeze whatever remains in our tanks.