CPC to leave domestic gasoline, diesel prices unchanged next week

Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan said Saturday it will keep domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week despite a spike in international crude oil prices.

In a statement, CPC said retail prices will remain at NT$30.5 (US$0.96), NT$32.0 and NT$34.0 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, from midnight Monday through Aug. 30.

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

The decision will mark the fourth consecutive week that CPC has kept domestic fuel prices unchanged, although crude oil prices moved higher this week after Iran vowed a "devastating" response to U.S. threats to impose tighter economic sanctions.

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$89.84 per barrel last week to US$93.01 this week.

However, a stronger Taiwan dollar, which averaged NT$31.901 against the U.S. dollar this week compared with NT$32.194 last week, helped moderate the financial pressure from higher crude oil purchasing costs, CPC said.

Still, CPC is expected to absorb losses of NT$2.7 per liter on gasoline sales and NT$4 per liter on diesel sales next week.

CPC estimated that as of Sunday, it will have absorbed NT$17.27 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 government price stabilization measures aimed at easing domestic inflationary pressure.