Gasoline, diesel prices to remain unchanged next week: CPC

Taipei, Oct. 10 (CNA) State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan, said Saturday it will leave its gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week, despite volatile international crude oil prices this week.

In a statement, CPC said its recommended retail prices would stay at NT$31.2 (US$0.98), NT$32.7 and NT$34.7 per liter for 92-, 95- and 98-octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, from midnight Sunday through Oct. 18.

The recommended retail price of premium diesel will also remain at NT$29.9 per liter during the same period, CPC said.

It will be the fourth consecutive week that CPC has kept its domestic fuel prices unchanged, in line with government price stabilization measures meant to ease inflationary pressure and keep fuel cheaper than in neighboring markets to strengthen Taiwan's competitiveness.

Crude oil prices rose this week amid concerns over supply disruptions caused by military tensions in the Middle East.

CPC said under its floating fuel price mechanism, which tracks a weighted average of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, the average international crude oil price rose from US$112.54 per barrel last week to US$114.65 this week.

However, a stronger Taiwan dollar, which averaged NT$31.810 against the U.S. dollar this week, compared with NT$31.850 last week, helped CPC lower its oil purchasing costs to some extent, the company's data showed.

Because it is leaving retail fuel prices unchanged, CPC said it expects to absorb a loss of NT$6.9 per liter on gasoline sales and NT$8.7 per liter on diesel sales next week.

CPC estimated that by Sunday it will have absorbed a total of NT$26.79 billion in losses since the war in the Middle East broke out at the end of February, as it has not fully passed on higher crude oil costs to consumers and businesses.