CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday announced that they would increase their gasoline and diesel prices for a second consecutive week, as an escalating conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt the region’s tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and forces some oil producers to reduce output.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) called for calm and said the government would implement measures to absorb about 60 percent of price increases to keep domestic fuel prices from rising too sharply.
Cho also urged people to work with the government to weather this difficult period.
Photo: CNA
Effective today, gasoline prices are to rise by NT$1.5 per liter to NT$28.9, NT$30.4 and NT$32.4 for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively at CPC and Formosa stations, the companies said in separate statements.
The cost of premium diesel is to increase by NT$1.1 per liter to NT$28.1 at CPC stations and NT$27.9 at Formosa pumps, they said.
CPC said that, based on its weighted oil price formula of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent, gasoline and diesel prices should have increased by NT$5.4 and NT$4.8 per liter this week respectively, as the Middle East conflict disrupted oil flows and led to a surge in international crude oil prices last week.
The company would absorb part of the increasing costs to cap weekly price hikes at about 5 percent in compliance with the government’s policies of stabilizing consumer prices and keeping domestic fuel prices lower than in major neighboring markets, it said.
Formosa set its prices in line with CPC 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, it said.
The companies’ announcements came after crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week and posted the largest weekly gains over the past four decades as oil supply woes deepen.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — last week surged 27.2 percent to settle at US$92.69 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil gauge — jumped 35.63 percent to US$90.9 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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