China hikes gasoline, diesel prices again

BEIJING: China on Tuesday announced an increase in gasoline and diesel prices for the second time in about a fortnight due to rising international oil prices triggered by the West Asia war.

China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), announced that the new round of price hikes will take effect from Wednesday.

Beijing already hiked gasoline and diesel prices on March 23 as part of preparations for a fuel crisis amid apprehensions over the current US-Israel-Iran war. Because of control measures, the prices of gasoline and diesel will increase by $61 and $58 per tonne, respectively, it said.


'World Wants Our Energy'
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Tuesday that there were a huge number of requests for Russian energy from a range of different places amid a grave global energy crisis that was shaking the foundations of the oil and gas markets.

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The crisis comes just as European consumers were trying to end their reliance on Russian energy to punish Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine, and as Russia itself looks set to cut its output in the wake of Ukrainian attacks on its oil infrastructure. President Vladimir Putin has suggested switching supplies more swiftly away from European customers if they do not want Russian energy. "Now that the world has confidently embarked on the path of a rather serious economic and energy crisis, which is growing day by day, the market and market conditions in the field of energy and energy resources have completely changed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"There are a huge number of requests for the purchase of our energy resources from alternative sources. We are negotiating, we are negotiating in such a way that this situation best suits our interests."

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Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, produces around 10 million barrels of crude per day and about half are exported. Russia holds the world's largest natural gas reserves.

Still, Russia may in fact have to reduce oil production because Ukrainian strikes on ports, pipelines and refineries have cut export capability by 1 million barrels per day, or a fifth of total capacity.

The project, located on the Yamal peninsula in the Arctic, has previously mostly exported its frozen gas to Europe.