LPG prices go up by Rs8 per kg

OGDC, PARCO increase rates to match Saudi contract price.

ISLAMABAD: The price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has gone up by Rs8 per kg after state-owned producers Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pak Arab Refinery Limited (Parco) announced an increase in their prices.

Parco increased its base stock price from Rs93,500 to Rs93,700 per ton while OGDC increased its base stock price from Rs87,000 to Rs93,685 per ton with effect from December 3, traders say. After keeping for months their prices below the Saudi Aramco contract price, with which the domestic market is linked, OGDC and Parco pushed up rates to match the Saudi price for December, which stood at $974 per ton, they say.

Following the rise in producer prices, retail rates jumped by a whopping Rs8,000 per ton. The shutdown of Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL)’s facility, caused by a fire last week, also has had its impact on the retail prices.

“Temporary suspension of supplies from JJVL, which accounts for 25% of the country’s LPG production, has caused shortage in the market,” said Belal Jabbar, spokesman for the LPG Association of Pakistan, in a statement issued on Tuesday.



Currently, retail prices stand at Rs140 per kg in Sindh and Balochistan, Rs145 per kg in Punjab, Rs150 per kg in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Rs155 per kg in northern areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2012.