CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) are to lower domestic gasoline prices this week, but leave diesel prices unchanged from last week.
In separate statements yesterday, state-run CPC and privately owned Formosa said that they would lower gasoline prices by NT$0.2 per liter, effective today, following price cuts of NT$0.3 per liter the previous week.
Based on its floating oil price formula, CPC said that the cost of crude oil last week had increased by 1.11 percent from a week earlier after Libya announced the closure of El Sharara oil field and OPEC+ unexpectedly announced additional crude output cuts that threatened to tighten the market.
Although its gasoline and diesel prices should have increased by NT$0.7 and NT$0.8 per liter respectively, CPC said it would absorb part of the cost increases and used a price stabilization mechanism to comply with a government policy of keeping domestic fuel prices lower than in neighboring markets such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Last year alone, CPC spent NT$16.92 billion (US$543.54 million) to absorb higher fuel costs, it said.
Formosa said other factors such as Saudi Arabia’s cutting the prices of crude oil deliveries to Asia, Russia’s commitment to lowering its crude oil exports and an unexpected increase in US crude oil inventories also weighed on market sentiment last week.
The company slashed its gasoline prices to match CPC’s after accounting for factors such as trends in the global oil market and fierce competition in the domestic market, it said.
Following the adjustments, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to fall to NT$29, NT$30.5 and NT$32.5 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to remain at NT$27.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.6 at Formosa pumps.
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