China Suspends Fuel Price Cuts to Curb Oil Demand, Pollution
- Sinopec shares jump most in seven years, PetroChina rises
- Pollution worsening, oil consumption rising `too fast': NDRC
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China suspended fuel price adjustments as the world’s biggest energy consumer tries to curb demand growth and cut pollution to help improve air quality. Shares of the country’s biggest energy producers surged.
Keeping domestic fuel rates stable, while oil price continue to fall, can help curb petroleum consumption from “increasing too fast," National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, said in a statement dated Dec. 15. Automobile emissions are part of the reason for worsening air pollution, the NDRC said. Gasoline and diesel prices should have been cut by 200 yuan ($31) a metric ton on Tuesday based on its previous mechanism, according to ICIS China, a commodity researcher.