By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter
Gasoline and diesel prices are to increase NT$0.5 and NT$0.6 per liter respectively this week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday, as global crude oil prices last week posted their biggest weekly gain since June.
Gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27, NT$28.5 and NT$30.5 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements.
Premium diesel is to cost NT$25.5 per liter at CPC stations and NT$25.3 at Formosa pumps, they added.
The latest adjustments come as oil prices moved higher after US President Donald Trump said meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a waste of time, and amid concerns over potential global supply disruptions due to new US sanctions on Russia’s two largest crude producers, Lukoil PJSC and Rosneft PJSC, the companies said.
Additionally, a US Energy Information Administration report showed that US commercial crude oil stockpiles posted an unexpected decline for the first time in four weeks in the week ending on Oct. 17, which further supported oil prices, the companies said.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — last week rose 7.59 percent to settle at US$65.94 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil gauge — gained 7.61 percent to close at US$61.5 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.