CPC to leave domestic gasoline, diesel prices steady for next week

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) CPC Corp., Taiwan, the sole state-owned oil supplier in the country, announced on Saturday that it will leave its gasoline and diesel prices in the local market unchanged for next week in a bid to stabilize domestic consumer prices under the government's instructions amid global crude oil price volatility.

It will be the fourth consecutive week that CPC has maintained its domestic fuel prices at the same level amid the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

In a statement, CPC said after the decision that recommended retail gasoline prices will stay at NT$32.4 (US$1.03), NT$33.9 and NT$35.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, from midnight Monday through May 3.

In addition, the recommended price for premium diesel will remain at NT$31.0 per liter next week, CPC said.

The oil supplier said it is expected to absorb losses of NT$2.7 and NT$4.4 per liter for gasoline and diesel prices, respectively, next week, as the company aimed to keep domestic fuel prices lower than those of its neighboring markets to cap inflationary pressure.

Under the CPC floating price mechanism, which comprises a weighting of 70 percent Dubai and 30 percent Brent crude oil prices, the average international oil prices for this week fell to US$103.63 per barrel from US$107.44 per barrel last week.

The average exchange rate of the Taiwan dollar stood at NT$31.530 to the U.S. dollar this week, compared with NT$31.655 last week, according to CPC.

Due to the lower average crude oil prices and a stronger Taiwan dollar, CPC said the financial burden it has to shoulder will be cut to some extent.

Still, international crude oil prices continued to hover at high levels amid geopolitical unease, CPC said, estimating that the company will have to absorb NT$12.4 billion in losses since the war in the Middle East erupted at the end of February.