State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油) yesterday said that it would keep gasoline and diesel prices unchanged this week.
Saudi Arabia is unlikely to cut crude production as its budget deficit deteriorates, the refiner said.
An unexpected rise in crude inventory in the US also weighed on global crude oil prices, muting price hikes earlier last week as crude consumption entered the winter peak season, CPC said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Global crude oil prices inched up 0.3 percent, or US$0.1, to US$33.36 per barrel last week, compared with US$33.26 per barrel in the previous week, according to CPC’s pricing information.
After factoring in the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation of NT$0.013 against the US dollar — which helped lower CPC’s import costs — domestic fuel prices should be little changed this week, CPC said.
The nation’s only privately run oil refiner, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPC 台塑石化), on Saturday said it would hold gasoline and diesel prices steady.
Low global crude prices depressed the nation’s exports of mineral, plastic and chemical products last year. Together, the three products accounted for 20 percent of overall outbound shipments.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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