CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday announced they would increase gasoline and diesel prices by NT$1.8 and NT$1.4 per liter respectively.
The announcements came as severe traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s intensifying attacks on key energy infrastructure in the Middle East keep crude oil prices elevated, the companies said in separate statements.
Gasoline prices should have risen by NT$15 per liter based on international oil prices, but CPC only increased them by NT$1.8 per liter, with the government absorbing NT$13.2 per liter, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said.
Photo: CNA
CPC has absorbed more than NT$3.4 billion (US$106.35 million) in fuel costs over the past week and nearly NT$6.5 billion since Feb. 28 to help stabilize domestic prices amid Middle East tensions, Cho said.
The government would use the most effective way to prevent CPC from sustaining financial difficulties once the conflict in the Middle East eases, he added.
Effective today, gasoline prices are to rise to NT$30.7, NT$32.2 and NT$34.2 for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively at CPC and Formosa stations, while the cost of premium diesel is to be NT$29.5 at CPC stations and NT$29.3 at Formosa pumps, the companies said.
CPC said that according to its floating oil price mechanism, gasoline and diesel prices should have increased by NT$15 and NT$16.9 per liter respectively.
However, the company would absorb part of the increasing costs 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’ hikes came as oil supply woes deepened in the Middle East.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — last week gained 8.77 percent to settle at US$112.19 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange in London.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil gauge — lost 0.4 percent to US$98.32 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
More than 8,000 people took part in a rally in Taipei yesterday to express support for more defense spending, after the opposition slashed the Cabinet’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.6 billion) special defense budget and capped it at NT$780 billion. The demonstrators urged the Cabinet to propose another bill. Taiwan Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the main problem of the passed budget plan is the removal of funding for critical items, not just that the total amount is smaller. Critical budget items included purchasing or developing uncrewed vehicles, Strong Bow (強弓) missile systems, additional ammunition, artificial intelligence-powered combat systems and Taiwan-US
RSS