Gasoline prices are to increase by NT$0.5 per liter this week as global crude oil prices moved higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said in separate statements yesterday.
Crude oil prices rose last week after Goldman Sachs Group Inc predicted the oil market would be in short supply in the second half of the year, CPC said.
Market sentiment was also affected by news that the number of US oil rigs fell to a 16-month low last week, the state-owned petroleum company added.
Other factors, such as market expectations of tighter oil supply on OPEC+ members’ agreement to cut production and better-than-expected US GDP growth in the second quarter, offered a further boost to oil prices over the past week, Formosa said.
Based on CPC’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil increased 4.13 percent from a week earlier, it said.
Gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are today to increase to NT$30.3, NT$31.8 and NT$33.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said.
However, the price of premium diesel is to drop NT$0.1 per liter to NT$28.0 at CPC stations and to NT$27.8 at Formosa pumps after the companies factored in their oil price formulas, domestic market competition and global market trends, they said.
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