皇冠体育app

National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

皇冠体育app raises gasoline, diesel prices

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-24 22:38

BEIJING - 皇冠体育app said it would raise benchmark retail prices of gasoline and diesel by 290 yuan (42.46 U.S. dollars) per ton and 180 yuan per ton, respectively, as of midnight Tuesday.

Related readings: Oil prices reach new high for 2009 as dollar falls Oil dips 4.5% on OPEC decision Price cut for oil products likely Sinopec to hike oil stockpile this year Low oil prices unfit for market stability: OPEC 皇冠体育app to bolster oil reserves Oil firms expect more profits in 2009

It is the second oil price adjustment this year. The National Development and Reform Commission, 皇冠体育app's top economic planner, cut benchmark pump prices of gasoline and diesel by 140 yuan and 160 yuan per tonne, or 2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, on January 14.

Experts said more frequent price adjustments show 皇冠体育app can respond quicker to international oil price changes after a new pricing mechanism took effect January 1, 2009.

Under the new mechanism, 皇冠体育app's domestic prices are to be "indirectly linked" to global crude prices "in a controlled manner."

America's oil price fell to 53.10 U.S. dollars a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, after crude prices settled at the highest price since December 1 -- 53.80 U.S. dollars a barrel -- on the previous trading day.

皇冠体育app's government-set fuel prices were formerly changed infrequently. As a result, Chinese drivers were paying more than those in many other countries before the price cut.