CPC to leave domestic gasoline, diesel prices unchanged next week

Taipei, Aug. 1 (CNA) State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan, said Saturday it will hold domestic gasoline and diesel prices steady next week despite easing international crude oil prices.

In a statement, CPC said retail prices will remain at NT$30.5, NT$32.0 and NT$34.0 per liter for 92, 95, and 98-octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, from midnight Monday through Aug. 9.

The price of premium diesel will also remain at NT$29.3 per liter during the same period, CPC said.

CPC said its floating pricing mechanism, based on a weighted average of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, showed that the average international crude oil price fell from US$90.08 per barrel last week to US$83.99 this week, as increased flows through the Strait of Hormuz eased supply concerns.

However, CPC said it had decided to keep domestic fuel prices unchanged next week, absorbing a loss of NT$0.9 per liter on gasoline sales and NT$2.1 per liter on diesel sales.

Although crude oil prices fell during the week, they remained well above levels seen before tensions escalated in the Middle East.

CPC estimates that, as of Sunday, it will have absorbed NT$16.27 billion (US$502 million) in losses since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East at the end of February by not passing higher international crude oil prices on to consumers under the government's price stabilization measures aimed at curbing domestic inflation.