Fuel price hike: A wake-up call for PH to accelerate RE shift

The escalating tensions in the Middle East, which are expected to drive up fuel prices significantly, should prompt the Philippines to accelerate its transition to renewable energy (RE), according to a trade envoy.

- DEXTER BARRO II

George Freeman, the United Kingdom's (UK) trade envoy to the Philippines, said that whenever a conflict emerges in the Middle East, price volatility is the inevitable outcome, as the region is a major player in the global oil supply.

"And I know people in the Philippines, people in the UK, may not think that the war in the Middle East is directly affecting them, but it is because it's putting the cost of oil up, the cost of every product that uses oil up," he said in a media roundtable.

Based on four days of trading in the global oil market, gasoline prices could rise by P2.50 to P3.20 per liter next week.

Diesel prices are also expected to go up by P4.30 to as much as P4.80 per liter.

The Department of Energy (DOE) cited the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran as the cause of this price surge.