Taiwan's Fuel Prices Rise Amid Middle East Conflict

Taiwan's fuel prices are rising for the first time in two weeks due to international crude oil price spikes. The Taiwanese companies CPC Corp, Taiwan and Formosa Petrochemical Corp announced on Saturday that they would increase domestic gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.7 (US$0.02) and NT$0.5 per liter respectively this week.

The move comes as front-month Brent crude oil futures rose 9.85 percent to settle at US$96.78 per barrel last week on the Intercontinental Exchange in London, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures gained 9.21 percent in the same period to US$89.31 per barrel.

CPC's floating price mechanism, which is based on a weighting of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, saw the average international oil price rise to US$90.08 per barrel last week, up from US$78.82 last week.