Manila, Philippines — After abstaining from enforcing price adjustments last week, big and small oil companies on Tuesday jacked up their pump prices by 50 centavos per liter.

Imposing the price increase at 6 a.m. on Tuesday were oil giants Petron Corp., Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex), and smaller oil firm Seaoil Philippines.

Fernando Martinez, president of independent oil firm Eastern Petroleum Philippines, said they added half a peso to their retail prices at past midnight.

Chevron spokesman Toby Nebrida said the hike was made to reflect higher prices in the world market.

Other oil companies have yet to announce a price increase as of press time.

Tuesday’s price adjustment covered diesel, kerosene, and all variants of gasoline, making it the first sweeping hike since the first week of August.

The increase brought the average price of fuel in Metro Manila to: P42.50 a liter for gasoline (unleaded), P33.50 a liter for diesel, and P43 a liter for kerosene.

The oil firms did not adjust fuel price levels between August 30 and September 5. They did, however, roll back pump prices twice the week before that.

Last August 24, prices of unleaded gasoline, premium gasoline, diesel and kerosene were slashed by P0.75 a liter while that of regular gasoline was pulled down by P0.25 a liter. The oil firms followed it up with a P0.50 per liter cutback on all products three days after.