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China Wednesday raised the price of refined oil products forthefirst time in three months to reflect the oil price spike ontheinternational market.The move also spells out relief fordomesticrefineries that have been suffering losses because ofrising crudeoil costs.The National Development Reform Commissionyesterdayraised benchmark gasoline rates by 240 yuan (US$29) a tonanddiesel prices by 220 yuan (US$26.60) a ton. The pricehikesrepresent about a 7 per cent increase over
thepreviouslevel.Chinas current oil prices vary in differentprovinces andregions. Oil companies are allowed to raise or dropretail pricesby 8 per cent from a government-set benchmark.InBeijing, retailgasoline prices have hit a new record high. Thebenchmark 90-octanegasoline rose by 0.19 yuan (2.3 US cents) to3.42 yuan (41.4 UScents) a liter. The 0-octane diesel increased by0.19 yuan (2.3 UScents) to 3.46 yuan (41.8 US cents) aliter.Experts say the priceadjustment is to catch up with theinternational crude oil pricehike.New York oil futures peaked atUS$48 a barrel last week.Prices have gained 22 per cent since theend of June amid risingglobal demand and risks to supplies fromRussia, Iraq andVenezuela.China pegged its domestic refined oilproducts to averagerates in Rotterdam, New York andSingapore.Despite the price spikeon the international market, thegovernment hasnt adjusted theprices since mid-May because thegovernment is concerned that theprice increase may undermine itsefforts to cool down theeconomy.Refineries, however, have to sufferheavy losses as theycannot pass on rising costs of processing crudeoil.The increaseof refined oil prices is good news forrefineries, said GongJingshuang, an expert with Economic ResearchCentre with the ChinaNational Petroleum Corp. It is conducive tothe bottomline of oilcompanies, especially refinery-heavySinopec.Chinas three largestoil producers - PetroChina Ltd,Sinopec Corp and CNOOC Ltd - gainedwindfalls in the first half ofthis year, thanks to the crude oilprice hike.CNOOC yesterdayreported its net profit increased 11.2per cent year-on-year to 7.0billion yuan (US$850 million) in thefirst half of thisyear.Analysts say they believe Sinopec willachieve a half-yearprofit increase of about 48 per cent whilePetroChinas willincrease by about 11 per cent in their interimreports later thisweek.Gong said the demand for oil products willremain strong infollowing months, despite the price increase.Athriving car market,rising investment in power, infrastructure andconstruction areboosting demand for oil products.The rapid growthin demand for oilproducts has forced Chinese refineries to run attop rates inprevious months, leading to a crude oil import surgein the firstseven months of this year.(China Daily)
（信息来源：MOFTEC英文版子站）
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