CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday said that gasoline and diesel prices this week would drop by NT$0.1 per liter, effective today.
Following the adjustments, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to fall to NT$28.9, NT$30.4 and NT$32.4 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost at NT$27.7 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.5 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements.
State-run CPC said its crude oil price last week increased 1.36 percent from a week earlier due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
“Following British and US airstrikes on rebel-held Yemen and Houthi organizations’ missile attacks on a US-owned cargo vessel in the Gulf of Aden, international oil prices rose last week,” CPC said in the statement.
CPC said its gasoline and diesel prices should have increased by NT$1.2 per liter respectively, but the company 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, it said.
Formosa said global crude oil prices fluctuated within a narrow range last week, after the market dealt with severe cold weather in the US, affecting some crude oil production and the US dollar index rising to a nearly one-month high.
The company decided to match CPC’s price adjustments after accounting for factors such as global oil market trends and fierce domestic market competition, it said.
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