State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) on Saturday said it would raise gasoline and diesel prices by NT$1.7 and NT$1.5 per liter respectively this week, while Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday announced similar increases.
CPC and Formosa cited higher global energy prices amid Middle East tensions as the main reason for the price hikes.
The US and Israel last month launched strikes against Iran starting a conflict that has spread across the region.
Photo: CNA
Effective today, retail prices would be NT$32.4, NT$33.9 and NT$35.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively at CPC and Formosa stations, while premium diesel would cost NT$31 per liter at CPC stations and NT$30.8 per liter at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements.
Ongoing strikes and counterstrikes on Persian Gulf refineries, pipelines, gas fields and tanker terminals have caused an oil shock this month and threaten to disrupt flows of energy vital to the global economy for a long time.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil last week rose 0.34 percent to settle at US$112.57 on Friday. That was up from about US$70 just before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28. Benchmark US crude gained 1.44 percent to settle at US$99.64 per barrel.
If the war continues until the end of June, with the Strait of Hormuz staying shut, oil prices could reach US$200 per barrel, Macquarie Group Ltd analysts said.
“The timing of the reopening of the strait, and physical damage to energy infrastructure, is the main determinant of the longer-term impact on commodities,” they said in a note on Friday.
CPC said that under its floating fuel price mechanism, gasoline and diesel prices should have risen by NT$10.9 and NT$13 per liter this week.
With CPC aiming to maintain the lowest prices among neighboring Asian countries, while complying with a government policy to stabilize the economy during the Middle East conflict, the company would absorb NT$9.2 per liter for gasoline and NT$11.5 per liter for diesel this week, it said.
From Feb. 28 to yesterday, the company would have absorbed an estimated NT$6.99 billion (US$219.23 million) in fuel costs in a bid to cushion the impact of rising prices on consumers and local industries, while maintaining stable domestic prices, it added.
Formosa set its price adjustments in line with CPC’s after accounting for trends in the global oil market, price conditions in regional economies, the New Taiwan dollar exchange rate and fierce competition in the domestic market, the company said.
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