By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter
Gasoline and diesel prices are to fall NT$0.1 per liter this week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday, as global crude oil prices fluctuated narrowly last week.
Gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to fall to NT$27.2, NT$28.7 and NT$30.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements.
Premium diesel is to cost NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they added.
International crude oil prices fluctuated last week, as market sentiment drifted amid a mixed bag of positive and negative factors, such as news of Ukrainian attacks on key Russian energy facilities and the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut of 25 basis points, which lifted oil prices higher, the companies said.
However, the latest US employment and housing data pointed to weakness in the economy, which weighed on the outlook for crude oil demand and pushed prices lower, they added.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — last week fell 0.46 percent to settle at US$66.68 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil gauge — lost 0.02 percent to US$62.68 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.