Domestic gasoline and diesel prices are to increase NT$0.3 and NT$0.4 per liter respectively this week after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said in separate statements yesterday.
That rise comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, including a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions aimed at Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, the companies said.
In addition, news that the US Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate more than expected and that US crude oil inventories fell to their lowest level in a year also helped to boost crude oil prices last week, they added.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 4.8 percent and Brent North Sea oil increased 4 percent last week, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Saturday.
CPC said that based on its floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 1.83 percent last week from a week earlier.
The company expects crude oil prices to fluctuate between US$72 and US$75 per barrel in the near term amid a mixed bag of positive and negative factors, such as unstable geopolitics in the Middle East and China’s economic slowdown, CPC chairman Lee Shun-chin (李順欽) said on Friday.
Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to increase to NT$29.3, NT$30.8 and NT$32.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said.
Premium diesel would cost NT$28 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.8 at Formosa pumps, they said.
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