State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it would cut gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.2 per liter, or about 0.6 percent, effective today.
The announcement came as deepening worries about the European debt crisis and disappointing US economic data brought down global crude oil prices.
That marked the ninth consecutive weekly cut since a spike in prices on April 2, after the government decided to withdraw subsidies on local fuel prices amid increasing losses at CPC.
Global crude oil prices fell 2.2 percent, or US$2.32, to US$102.96 per barrel last week, from US$105.28 the previous week, based on CPC’s pricing mechanism.
Matching CPC’s pricing strategy, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only privately-run oil refiner, yesterday said that it would also lower gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.2 per liter, effective today.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
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