Petrol price may go up by Rs8.73/litre, diesel by Rs12.5/litre

ISLAMABAD: With the completion of its five-year tenure on May 31, the government is likely to drop a bombshell on Pakistanis by increasing prices of petroleum products by up to 17 percent for June 2018.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has forwarded a summary to the Ministry of Energy Petroleum Division on Wednesday that recommended an upward revision in oil prices. Prices of all petroleum products, except for kerosene, are deregulated and Ogra only monitors their prices.

According to Ogra’s summary, Rs12.50/litre (or 12.7percent) increase has been suggested in High Speed Diesel (HSD) price. HSD is widely used in transport and agriculture sector. With this increase, its price would increase Rs111.26 per litre from the existing Rs98.76per litre.

The regulatory authority has also suggested to the government to increase petrol price by Rs8.73 per litre (or 9.5percenr), and if the government accepts it, petrol prices would go up from the existing Rs87.70 to Rs96.07per litre.

Regarding kerosene, the government has been suggested to increase its price from Rs79.87 to Rs88.10 per litre with an increase of Rs8.23 per litre (10.3percent).Kerosene is used for cooking purpose especially in remote areas where LPG or pipeline gas is not available.

Similarly, light diesel oil (LDO), mainly used for industrial purposes, may record an increase of Rs11.65 (16.9percent), meaning the price will go up from Rs68.85 to Rs80.50 per litre.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would take the final decision on Thursday (today). It is worth mentioning that at present, two types of taxes are being charged from consumers including petroleum levy and general sales tax.