TAIPEI: State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC) yesterday announced that it would cut gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.7 and NT$0.8 per liter respectively from today.
It said the cut reflects the falling import costs due to excessive supply in the global market.
After the adjustments, fuel prices are at their lowest levels since January 2009, CPC said.
Crude oil prices continued to decline over the past week, dragged down by the oversupply of crude production in Europe and west Africa, the state-run oil refiner said in a statement.
Under CPC’s pricing mechanism, the firm’s average crude oil costs last week fell US$2.92 per barrel to US$40.17 from the previous week’s US$43.09 per barrel, CPC said.
After factoring the New Taiwan dollar’s depreciation of NT$0.051 against the US dollar, CPC said it decided to cut domestic fuel prices by 5.31 percent, or a decrease of NT$0.7 and NT$0.8 per liter of gasoline and diesel respectively.
Taiwan’s only private oil refiner Formosa Petrochemical Corp on Saturday, a day before CPC’s announcement, said it is to cut its gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.7 and NT$0.8 respectively from yesterday.
After the price adjustments, Formosa’s 98-octane unleaded gasoline dropped to NT$25.2 per liter, which is NT$0.2 more expensive than CPC’s equivalent product, while the rest of Formosa’s fuel products remain cheaper than CPC’s, according to company data.
