CPC to leave gasoline, diesel prices unchanged for 7th straight week

Taipei, May 16 (CNA) State-owned oil company CPC Corp., Taiwan, has decided to leave domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week even as international crude oil prices continue to rise due to ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

It was the seventh consecutive week that CPC has maintained domestic gasoline and diesel prices at the same levels to keep a lid on inflation and, to comply with the government's pricing mechanism, keep fuel prices lower than in neighboring markets.

In a statement Saturday, CPC said it would recommended that retail prices remain 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 24.

The recommended price for premium diesel will stay at NT$31.0 per liter, CPC said.

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At those prices, CPC said it would lose NT$3.3 per liter on its gasoline sales and NT$5.0 per liter on its diesel sales next week, higher than what it absorbed this week because of continued increases in crude oil prices.

The company indicated, however, that a stronger Taiwan dollar helped reduce to some extent the financial burden caused by higher crude prices.

Under CPC's floating price mechanism, which is based on a weighting of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, the average international oil price rose to US$106.26 per barrel this week, down from US$102.97 last week.

The average exchange rate for the Taiwan dollar against the U.S. dollar was NT$31.492 this week, compared with NT$31.508 last week, according to CPC.

Since the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran at the end of February, CPC estimated it will have absorbed NT$14.82 billion in losses as of Sunday.