Price revision: Govt reduces petrol, CNG prices by over Rs2

The move is taken despite a parliamentary resolution against weekly price change.

ISLAMABAD:

Despite a unanimously-approved resolution in the National Assembly against the weekly change in the prices of petroleum products, the government on Sunday announced new prices — yet again.

The decision, however, brought cheer to the consumers as petrol prices have been lowered by Rs2.32 per litre ahead of Eidul Azha in line with a reduction in global oil prices.

The National Assembly had unanimously passed a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) sponsored resolution to immediately withdraw the decision to review prices of petroleum products on a weekly basis and instead put in place an open and transparent system for price fixation on a monthly basis.

Nonetheless the government changed the prices two days after the resolution’s passage although Religious Affairs Minister Khursheed Shah had assured the house, on a query from the opposition, that the government would adhere to the resolution and that the ministry had been asked to take parliament’s decision into account.

After the decision taken under the weekly oil prices review mechanism, petrol prices witnessed a cut of Rs2.32 per litre for the coming week making it the second consecutive week during which petrol prices have been slashed during the month: the price of petrol was slashed by Rs2.09 per litre last Sunday.

The petroleum ministry had submitted a summary to the finance ministry on Saturday so that it may notify the new prices from today (Monday). After the proposed cut, the price of petrol has come down from Rs103.40 to Rs101.08 per litre.

CNG and others

The prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will also witness a decline of up to Rs2.12 per kilogramme, due the linking of the fuel’s price at 60% parity of petrol.

In Region I (Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), the new price of CNG would be Rs92.54 per kilogramme (kg) – slashed by Rs2.12 per kg – while in Region II (Sindh, Punjab) prices will decline by Rs1.94 per kg from Rs86.48 to Rs84.54 per kg.

After a constant decline in High Speed Diesel (HSD) prices for the last few weeks – which is used mostly in the transport and agriculture sectors –consumers faced a price hike of Rs3.16 per litre last Sunday following a fluctuation in global oil prices.

This week, high speed siesel consumers will receive a nominal price cut of Re0.33 per litre, which will bring its price down to Rs113.29 from the existing Rs113.62 per litre.

Kerosene oil – which is used for cooking purposes in remote areas where Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is not readily available – has witnessed an upward revision in prices for the past few weeks.

The price of kerosene has also come down by Re0.61 per litre, bringing it down from Rs103.87 to Rs 103.26 per litre. Consumers had faced a Rs1.92 per litre price hike last Sunday due to a fluctuation in global oil prices.

Light Diesel Oil (LDO), used mainly for industrial purposes, witnessed a nominal decline in prices of Re0.25 per litre that brought the price down from the current Rs97.93 per litre to Rs97.68 per litre.

Jet fuels JP-1, JP-4 and JP-8 also witnessed a decline by Re0.62, Re0.58 and Re0.63 – reaching Rs92.46, Rs84.36 and Rs92.14 per litre, respectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd,  2012.