The nation’s two refiners yesterday said they intend to increase gasoline and diesel product prices by NT$0.40 per liter this week, effective today, as global crude oil prices rose amid increasing tensions in the Middle East.
The latest price hike by the state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and its privately owned rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) would push the price of benchmark 92-unleaded gasoline to above NT$34.0 per liter, the highest in more than four years.
CPC said in a statement that its average oil costs expanded by 1.47 percent last week, after global crude oil prices rose in response to the ongoing confrontation between Syria and Turkey. The company’s weighted oil price formula showed prices increased US$1.98 per barrel to US$111.34 in the week, it said.
World oil prices were also up last week on the better-than-expected US job data, Formosa said in a separate statement.
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