By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter
CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) are today to raise gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.3 and NT$0.6 per liter respectively this week, as international crude oil prices increased last week.
CPC and Formosa gasoline prices are to rise to NT$27.4, NT$28.9 and NT$30.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$26.3 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26.1 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements yesterday.
International crude oil prices last week rose for the sixth consecutive week on fears that the US could carry out strikes against Iran, raising concerns about Iranian oil exports, the companies said.
Prices were also buoyed by a massive winter storm sweeping the US and disrupting production on the Gulf Coast and elsewhere, they said.
The slower-than-expected resumption of oil production at two oil fields in Kazakhstan following fires in at power-generation facilities also boosted oil prices, they added.
Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — last week rose 7.3 percent to settle at US$70.69 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil benchmark — gained 6.78 percent to US$65.21 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Separately, CPC said it would keep liquefied natural gas prices unchanged for household and industrial users this month during the holiday season in accordance with a government policy to help stabilize domestic consumer prices.