TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Turmoil in the Middle East and a decline in US commercial crude oil inventories have caused international oil prices to rise, however, the oil price stabilization program in Taiwan will allow state-run refiner CPC to keep gas and diesel prices unchanged.

CPC's announcement means the retail price for the most popular gas, 95 unleaded, will be NT$30.1 (US$0.92) per liter beginning Monday. Meanwhile, 92 unleaded gas is set at NT$28.6 per liter, and super diesel NT$27.3 per liter, per CNA.

According to CPC, Taiwan’s floating oil price adjustment indicator 7D3B (70% Dubai, 30% North Sea Brent) saw a weekly average price increase of US$0.10. This gain, along with the New Taiwan dollar depreciation against the US dollar by NT$0.12, led to an overall increase in the oil price indicator by 0.4% last week.

According to the floating oil price mechanism, a 0.4% increase indicates gas and diesel prices should increase by NT$1.3 per liter; however, a mandate to keep prices lower than neighboring Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore), means the price hike will be absorbed by CPC, with fuel prices remaining unchanged.

In the year to November, CPC said it had absorbed more than NT$24.64 billion in costs associated with the floating oil price mechanism.