OGRA recommends one-rupee hike in petrol price

Suggests increase of Rs0.27 per litre in high-speed diesel rate

ISLAMABAD: Prices of petrol and high-speed diesel are likely to rise in November 2019 in line with fluctuations in global crude oil prices.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) recommended the government on Wednesday to increase prices of petrol and diesel. However, the regulator suggested a reduction in prices of kerosene oil and light diesel oil (LDO) for the month.

The regulatory authority has recommended that the price of petrol may be increased by Re1 per litre and the price of high-speed diesel by Rs0.27 per litre. On the other hand, it has suggested a reduction of Rs2.39 per litre in the price of kerosene oil and Rs6.56 per litre in the price of LDO.

Ogra has forwarded the summary to the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), which would send it to the Ministry of Finance for approval. The government will decide on the price revision on Thursday.

For both petrol and high-speed diesel, the suggested increase is less than one per cent while the proposed reduction for kerosene oil is 2.4% and LDO 7.14%.

If the government accepts Ogra's recommendations, the price of petrol will go up from the existing Rs113.24 to Rs114.24 per litre whereas the price of high-speed diesel will rise to Rs127.41 per litre from the current Rs127.14.

The price of LDO, which is mainly used for industrial purposes, will go down to Rs85.33 per litre from the current Rs91.89. Similarly, the price of kerosene oil will fall from Rs99.57 to Rs97.18 per litre.

Kerosene is used for cooking purposes, especially in remote areas where liquefied natural gas (LPG) or pipeline gas is not available.

Brent crude oil price in the international market stood at $61.15 per barrel on October 30 while on September 27, it was $62.22 per barrel.

It is worth mentioning that since July 2019, Pakistan has started receiving monthly oil supplies worth $275 million from Saudi Arabia on deferred payments. Under the arrangement, Pakistan will get the oil credit facility to the tune of $9.9 billion over three years.