PARCO raises LPG price

Retail price expected to reach Rs148 per kg.

ISLAMABAD: The relief to consumers in the wake of suspension of petroleum development levy has proved short-lived as state-owned producer Pak-Arab Refinery Company (Parco) has increased the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs16,076 per ton.

The new base stock price is Rs102,000 per ton compared to Rs85,924 earlier. The price rise came following an increase in Saudi Aramco contract price, to which the domestic market is linked, to a record high of $1,200 per ton for March delivery.

“Ex-refinery price of LPG from Parco mid-country refinery Mahmood Kot for licensed LPG marketing companies will be Rs102,000 per ton,” Parco said in a notification on Friday. The price does not include sales tax, excise duty and any other government levies and will take effect from March 3.

In the retail market, prices are also expected to rise. Earlier, the LPG price came down to Rs130 per kg from Rs140 following suspension of petroleum development levy by the Lahore High Court.

“Although Parco has not matched the Saudi Aramco contract price, its latest notification has taken the price to the highest level,” said Belal Jabbar, spokesman for the LPG Association of Pakistan, a grouping of marketing companies.

“The increase of Rs18,746 per ton including taxes will push up prices of domestic and commercial cylinders from Rs1,534 to Rs1,755 and from Rs5,902 to Rs6,753. Retail price is expected to increase to Rs148 per kg,” said Jabbar.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2012.