Gasoline prices are to remain unchanged this week from last week, even though international crude oil prices continued to increase, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday, as the state-run refiner posted pretax losses of NT$50 billion (US$1.68 billion) for the first five months of the year.
Diesel prices are to rise by NT$0.1 per liter this week, following an increase of NT$0.3 per liter last week, the two companies said in separate statements.
CPC said that global crude oil prices rose last week after major OPEC producers reported limited spare capacity and G7 leaders vowed to expand sanctions on Russia, which caused the cost of its crude oil imports to rise 2.24 percent from a week earlier based on its floating oil price formula.
The state-run company said the formula prescribed price increases of NT$6.2 per liter for gasoline and NT$7.9 per liter for diesel, but CPC used a price stabilization mechanism to absorb part of the crude oil price increase, citing a government policy of keeping domestic fuel prices lower than in neighboring markets.
Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC stations are to stay at NT$30, NT$31.5 and NT$33.5 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while the price of premium diesel is to increase to NT$27.8 per liter, it said.
Formosa Petrochemical’s prices for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline are to stay at NT$30, NT$31.5 and NT$33.5 per liter respectively, while the price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$27.6 per liter, it said.
Separately, CPC said that it would keep prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unchanged this month despite a drop in the LPG price on the international market.
Prices of LPG products — such as household LPG, propane and butane, as well as propane and butane mixes and automotive LPG — are to remain unchanged from last month, CPC said in a statement on Friday.
The company said that weakness in the international market would have warranted an LPG price drop of NT$1.0 per kilogram, but it decided not to lower prices to offset part of the losses accrued over the past few years as a result of a government policy to ease the financial burden on households amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it added.
CPC is also to suspend liquefied natural gas (LNG) price hikes for retail and industrial users this month, but LNG prices for power generation users such as Taiwan Power Co (台電) are to rise 5 percent, the company said.
CPC forecast more than NT$200 billion in losses from sales of its natural gas products by the end of the year if it continues to freeze natural gas prices from this month, it said.
As the company continues to absorb part of cost increases to help stabilize domestic consumer prices, its pretax losses reached NT$50 billion in the first five months of this year, with accumulated losses exceeding NT$80 billion, CPC said.
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