A petrol station employee fills the tank of a car in Shanghai, east China, Sep. 2, 2009. China raised the prices of gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan (44.12 U.S. dollars) a tonne, or about 4 percent each since Sept. 2. The retail price of gasoline increased by 0.22 yuan a liter, and diesel increased by 0.26 yuan a liter. (Xinhua/Pei Xin) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- China is to raise the prices of gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan (44.12 U.S. dollars) a tonne, or about 4 percent each Sept. 2, the country's top economic planning agency said late Tuesday.

    The retail price of gasoline will increase by 0.22 yuan a liter, and diesel will increase by 0.26 yuan a liter, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

A petrol station employee changes the price tag of oil in Beijing, China, Sep. 2, 2009. (Xinhua/Dai Xuming) Photo Gallery>>>

    The benchmark price of gasoline will be 6,810 yuan a tonne, and for diesel 6,070 yuan a tonne.

    Jet fuel prices will rise to 7,010 yuan a tonne, up 4.6 percent.

    The price hike is in accordance with international price changes, said the NDRC.

    It is the seventh fuel price adjustment since China adopted a new fuel pricing mechanism on Jan. 1.

    Under the mechanism, the NDRC will consider changing benchmark oil product prices when the international crude price rises or falls by a daily average of 4 percent over 20 days.

Cars line up outside a petrol station in Shanghai, east China, Sep. 1, 2009. China raised the prices of gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan (44.12 U.S. dollars) a tonne, or about 4 percent each since Sept. 2. The retail price of gasoline increased by 0.22 yuan a liter, and diesel increased by 0.26 yuan a liter. (Xinhua/Pei Xin) Photo Gallery>>>

    On Tuesday, the benchmark crude for October delivery was up 18cents before settling at 70.14 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude was up 22 cents at 69.87 U.S. dollars.

    The NDRC is basing its adjustment of domestic fuel prices on three variations of global crude prices, but did not reveal their structure.

    Since we cut the domestic fuel prices on July 29, global crude prices have gone up more than 4 percent, which demands a hefty price rise, said Xu Kunlin, deputy head of the pricing department under the NDRC.

    However, considering the market conditions and the fact that the economy is on road to recovery, the government decided to keep the price rise at a "moderate" rate, he said.

    Wang Jing, analyst with the Oriental Securities, said the global crude prices have climbed by more than 10 percent over the last 22 trading days, and a domestic price rise of 300 yuan per tonne is within the market's acceptance.

    Xu Kunlin said the price hike could also be a blessing for the nation's refiners.

    On Monday, Sinopec tumbled by 10 percent, or its daily limit, to 11.13 yuan as investors disappointed that the domestic fuel prices were not adjusted as they expected in order to prevent bigger losses for the company's refining business.

    Wang Jing said although the price change is a little bit later than expected, the price adjustment mechanism is working normally. As the market-based mechanism is improving, such adjustment will be regular.

Oil plummets on China's sharp equities loss

    NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices plummeted to below 70 U.S. dollars a barrel on Monday as investors were rattled by the sharp decline in China's equities market.

    Light, sweet crude for October delivery lost 2.78 dollars, or 3.8 percent, to settle at 69.96 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell to the intraday low of 69.13 dollars a barrel.  Full story

PetroChina net profit down on low oil prices, weak demand

    BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- PetroChina, the listed subsidiary of China's biggest oil and gas producer, Friday reported a net profit of 50.51 billion yuan (7.39 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half, down 7.2 percent from a year earlier.

    Lower oil prices and weaker energy demand brought about by the global economic downturn were the major reasons for the decline, according to the company's half-year report.  Full story

China's CNOOC 1H net profit falls 55% on lower crude oil prices

    BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's CNOOC Limited, the listed subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), said Wednesday its net profit dropped 55 percent from a year ago to 12.4 billion yuan (1.82 billion U.S. dollars), or 0.28 yuan per share, in the first half.

    The profit decline, down from 27.54 billion yuan a year earlier, was a result of lower crude oil prices in the first half, as the global financial crisis led to a world recession that curbed demand for fuel, despite a rise in oil and gas output, China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer told the Hong Kong stock exchange.

    The company's revenue fell 42 percent year on year to 40.65 billion yuan.  Full story