CPC cuts gasoline prices by NT$0.1 after WTI decline

State-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) announced yesterday that it would lower wholesale prices of gasoline oil products by NT$0.1 per liter while leaving prices for diesel oil products unchanged.

CPC said the price cuts for wholesale gasoline products reflected a 0.27 percent decline in the prices of benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude over the past week in New York trade.

The new rates go into effect midnight tonight, CPC said in a statement posted on the Web site of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

NT$0.1 is the minimum differential the company has set for a price change. After the adjustments, the wholesale price for 98-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$29.1, 95-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$27.6, 92-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$26.9 and top-grade diesel oil will remain NT$23.7 per liter.

CPC rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation's second-biggest fuel supplier, is expected to announce weekly price changes today that will probably match the move by CPC.

Global oil prices were higher in Asian trade yesterday, with light sweet crude for February delivery rising US$0.50 to US$62.91 a barrel in afternoon Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

CPC began implementing the new pricing system on Oct. 3 after the company posted a loss of NT$25.4 billion (US$776.8 million) in the first eight months of the year owing to soaring oil costs.

The company is considering a shift to a biweekly pricing system next year.