CPC to keep domestic gasoline, diesel prices steady next week

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan said Saturday it will keep domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week.

The decision will mark the third consecutive week that CPC has kept domestic fuel prices steady despite a rise in crude oil prices this week with no signs of progress toward reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement, CPC said retail prices will remain at NT$30.5 (US$0.94), NT$32.0 and NT$34.0 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, from midnight Monday through Aug. 23.

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

CPC said its floating price mechanism, based on a weighted average of 70 percent Dubai and 30 percent Brent crude, showed that the average international crude oil price rose from US$82.20 per barrel last week to US$89.84 this week, with no immediate signs of a peace agreement between the United States and Iran.

A weaker U.S. dollar, which averaged NT$32.194 against the Taiwan dollar this week, compared with NT$32.350 last week, helped CPC offset the rise in crude oil prices to some extent.

Because of the spike in crude oil prices, CPC said it expects to incur losses of NT$2.2 per liter on gasoline sales and NT$3.5 per liter on diesel sales next week.

CPC estimated that as of Sunday, it will have absorbed NT$16.6 billion in losses since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East by not fully passing higher international crude oil costs on to consumers and businesses under the government's prize stabilization measures aimed at easing domestic inflationary pressure.