Taipei:CPC Corp., Taiwan, announced on Saturday that it will maintain its domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged next week, despite a decline in international crude oil prices.

According to Focus Taiwan, this marks the eighth consecutive week that CPC has kept its fuel prices stable under the government's price stabilization measures aimed at controlling inflation. The recommended retail prices for 92-, 95-, and 98-octane unleaded gasoline will remain at NT$31.2, NT$32.7, and NT$34.7 per liter, respectively, from midnight Sunday through November 15. Similarly, the price for premium diesel will stay at NT$29.9 per liter.

The global benchmark, Brent crude, saw a decrease of over 13 percent this week, prompted by hopes of a diplomatic resolution in the Middle East following the U.S. midterm elections. Additionally, a nuclear proposal sent by Iran to the United States via Qatar exerted further downward pressure on crude prices.

CPC's floating fuel price mechanism, which is based on a weighted average of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, reported a drop in the average international crude oil price from US$117.01 per barrel last week to US$99.79 per barrel this week. Despite this, CPC will not lower retail fuel prices as it has been keeping them artificially low to mitigate inflationary effects.

The decision to maintain prices means CPC will continue to absorb significant losses, estimated at NT$4.3 per liter for gasoline and NT$5.9 per liter for diesel sales next week. Since the end of February, CPC has reportedly absorbed a total of NT$34.07 billion in losses by not transferring fuel price increases to consumers, which were originally triggered by the conflict in Iran.