Taipei: State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan, announced Saturday that it will leave its domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week despite higher crude oil purchasing costs.
According to Focus Taiwan, CPC Corp. stated it will recommend that retail prices remain at NT$31.2 (US$0.98), NT$32.7, and NT$34.7 per liter for 92, 95, and 98-octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, from midnight Sunday through September 27. The retail price of premium diesel will also stay at NT$29.9 per liter for the same period.
The decision to maintain current prices was made despite a rise in crude oil prices following attacks on Saudi Arabian pipelines. This move aims to curb local inflationary pressures and keep domestic fuel prices lower than those in neighboring markets, according to CPC Corp.
CPC's floating price mechanism, which is based on a weighted average of 70 percent Dubai and 30 percent Brent crude, indicated that the average international crude oil price increased from US$115.61 per barrel last week to US$125.76 this week. This increase, coupled with a weaker Taiwan dollar averaging NT$31.827 against the U.S. dollar this week compared to NT$31.556 last week, resulted in a 7.76 percent hike in CPC Corp.'s crude oil purchase price.
Despite holding retail fuel prices steady, CPC Corp. anticipates absorbing a loss of NT$9.3 per liter on gasoline sales and NT$11.3 per liter on diesel sales next week. By Sunday, the company estimated it will have absorbed NT$21.92 billion in accumulated losses since the start of the Middle East conflict at the end of February, as it has not fully passed on the higher crude oil costs to consumers and businesses.
Earlier, the company had raised gasoline prices by NT$0.7 per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.6 per liter for this week due to a spike in crude oil prices.