CPC Corp Taiwan (台灣中油) yesterday announced plans to cut domestic gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.6 per liter and NT$0.7 per liter respectively, effective today.
The state-run refiner said global crude oil prices continued to fall last week on the back of China’s weakening economy in the past quarter and a substantial increase in US crude oil inventories in the week.
Under CPC’s pricing mechanism, the company’s average crude oil cost fell US$2.39 per barrel to US$45.33 last week from the previous week, the refiner said in a statement.
After factoring in the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation of almost NT$0.07 against the US dollar in the week, the company is to lower domestic fuel prices by 4.17 percent — or reductions of NT$0.6 per liter for gasoline and NT$0.7 per liter for diesel, it said.
CPC’s move came one day after privately run Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced on Saturday that it would lower its gasoline and diesel prices by the same range, effective yesterday.
After the latest price adjustments, Formosa’s 98-octane unleaded gasoline is to be NT$26.3 per liter, NT$0.2 more expensive than CPC’s equivalent. The rest of its products are cheaper than CPC’s, according to company data.
In related news, CPC on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding with a Qatar-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) company to promote the idea of corporate social responsibility.
CPC said on its Web site that, under the memorandum, it and RasGas Co would work together — including donations of US$40,000 by CPC and US$100,000 by RasGas — to enhance educational resources at nine elementary and junior-high schools in rural Taichung.
The agreement was finalized in a meeting involving CPC president Paul Chen (陳綠蔚) and RasGas president and chief executive officer Hamad Mubarak al-Muhannadi at Taiwan International Ports Corp’s (臺灣港務) Taichung branch office.
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