Taipei: State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan announced on Saturday that it will keep domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week, despite an increase in international crude oil prices.

According to Focus Taiwan, CPC stated that retail prices will remain stable at NT$30.5 (US$0.96), NT$32.0, and NT$34.0 per liter for 92, 95, and 98-octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, from midnight Monday through August 30. The price of premium diesel will also remain steady at NT$29.3 per liter during the same timeframe.

This decision marks the fourth consecutive week that CPC has maintained domestic fuel prices at current levels, even as crude oil prices have risen following Iran's indication of a "devastating" response to U.S. threats of tighter economic sanctions. CPC's floating price mechanism, which takes a weighted average of 70 percent Dubai and 30 percent Brent crude, showed an increase in the average international crude oil price from US$89.84 per barrel last week to US$93.01 this week.

CPC noted that a stronger Taiwan dollar, averaging NT$31.901 against the U.S. dollar this week compared to NT$32.194 last week, has helped alleviate some of the financial pressure from higher crude oil purchasing costs. Despite this, CPC is projected to absorb losses of NT$2.7 per liter on gasoline sales and NT$4 per liter on diesel sales in the coming week.

CPC estimated that by Sunday, it will have absorbed NT$17.27 billion in losses since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East. This is due to not fully passing on the increased international crude oil costs to consumers and businesses, as part of government measures to stabilize prices and ease domestic inflationary pressures.