The government may consider further oil price hikes and pricing deregulation early next year following its oil price rise in June, analysts and industry insiders say. Chinese oil refiners have suffered huge losses due to the gap between international crude oil prices and domestic prices of refined petroleum products, which are still controlled by the government. The government raised gasoline and diesel prices by 17-18 percent in June, while electricity charges for commercial units went up by 0.025 yuan per kWh from July 1. But refined oil prices are still lower than the international market level. Although all experts and industry insiders agreed that China's leadership had achieved the consensus on putting refined oil prices into market operation, they still thought the government might not consider further price hikes until early next year.