Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Tariq Khattak Monday confessed in the National Assembly that the government did not decrease the petroleum prices all the time in consonance with international market.
Answering queries during question-answer session, he said in the last three years prices of petroleum prices in the international market diminished 27 times but in the country the prices were reduced 20 times.
“Procedure is the reason behind the phenomenon. In fact finance ministry decides such matters and we always had targets in our front,” he added.
To a question, he said that there is no shortage in supply of fuel, however, the inflation is due to that fact that only 15 percent production of our needs is fulfilled from our domestic production of oil and for the rest “we have to depend on foreign resources and so international market play a role”.
Nevertheless as far as the last three years are concerned rate in international market increased in 2010 as well as 2011 and in 2009 it was decreased, so the government also reduced the prices in that one year. “Hence it is wrong to say that the government never let the price down when it fall in international market,” he clarified.
To another question, he said that the prices are fixed in accordance with an agreed formula and the government has little to do in this connection. Regarding subsidy for petroleum, he said that no subsidy is given at present.
The parliamentary secretary said that it is a fact that average production per year of oil and gas was decreased and it is a natural process that depletion does occur in natural reservoirs.
POL prices are way below prices in other countries of the sub-continent. This means less taxes and our dependence on foreign loans.
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