MANILA – Oil prices in the Philippines may increase by as much as PHP1.50 per liter next week due to overseas supply disruptions linked to geopolitical tensions, industry officials said Friday.

Jetti Petroleum President Leo Bellas said diesel prices could go up by PHP1.30 to PHP1.50 per liter, while gasoline may rise by PHP0.50 to PHP0.70 per liter, citing foreign exchange movements and Asian oil benchmarks.

Bellas pointed to rising U.S.-Iran tensions, new sanctions on Iran’s shadow fleet, and increased U.S. military presence in the Middle East as factors heightening supply uncertainty and supporting higher crude prices.

He also cited an outage at Kazakhstan’s largest oilfield and a major U.S. winter storm as additional factors tightening near-term oil and gas supply.

“Diesel and middle distillate prices are up due rising supply concerns as the EU import ban on refined products from Russian-origin crude could disrupt flows and tighten the physical market. For gasoline, limiting the upside to prices is the healthy regional supply and stock inventory,” Bellas said.

If implemented, the expected hike would be the fourth consecutive week of gasoline price increases and the sixth for diesel.

This week, gasoline prices rose by PHP0.40 per liter, diesel by PHP1.40, and kerosene by PHP0.80.