Islamabad (Staff Report): Once again officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources have proclaimed an increase in prices of petroleum products by Rs. 6.93 per liter starting next month.
This rise in petroleum prices is due to an increase in global crude oil prices.
A report submitted to the Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry in which Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) proposed a recommendation to increase oil prices. It should be noted that OGRA regulates kerosene oil prices only and the rest of the petrol product prices are deregulated.
The price hike will affect regular petrol, kerosene oil, high speed diesel (HSD) and light diesel oil (LDO).
The summary of increased prices by OGRA are following :
HSD will see an increase of Rs. 3.94 in its price. It will be going from Rs. 72.52 per liter to Rs. 79.16 per liter. HSD is used in cars, trucks and agricultural equipment mostly.
Petrol will see an increase of Rs. 2.31 and will be going from Rs. 66.27 per liter to Rs. 68.58 per liter.
Kerosene oil, rarely used in major cities and districts, is mostly used in remote areas where LPG isn’t readily available. Kerosene oil’s price will increase by Rs. 6.93, going from Rs. 43.25 per liter to Rs. 50.18 per liter.
LDO, used in industries will see a price hike of Rs. 3.48. The new price for LDO will be Rs. 46.82 per liter, up from Rs. 43.34 per liter.
Most notable thing is that these are the proposed rates by OGRA and the government can adjust taxes to accommodate the change in price.
In recent months, despite a 50% decline in global crude oil prices, local petroleum product prices have seen almost no change at all. This was due to heavy taxes from the government on the petrol products.
Still the prices will be finalized in a cabinet meeting, headed by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
