Continuing its fickleness with regards to petroleum pricing policy, it is likely that the government will push oil prices up by Rs. 3 per litre as of today (Sunday). Sources said that all petroleum products except diesel would witness an increase in per litre prices in accordance with estimations carried out to determine future prices of these products for the upcoming week.
According to sources, the $2 per barrel rise in the international oil market would be reflected in the domestic market. A ship arrived in Pakistan this week carrying 35,000 tonne of petroleum products at a higher price than that of the previous shipment. Since the mechanism for setting the price of fuel was to average out the cost of all fuels, a notification increasing the prices of these products was expected today by midnight, said the sources. Sources further said that it had been decided that price of Motor Spirit (MS) would be increased by Rs 3 per litre, Light Diesel Oil (LDO), used for industrial purposes, by 35 paisas per litre and kerosene oil by 60 paisas per litre. However, a decrease of Rs 3.10 per litre is expected in the price of High Speed Diesel (HSD) that is mainly used for transport vehicles and the agriculture sector.
Sources also assessed that following imposition of a new price mechanism for High Octane Blended Component (HOBC) under which its price will vary in various cities of the country, an average price increase of Re. 1 per litre is expected for this particular product which is produced by PARCO. Similarly, in line with the set mechanism under which the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) should stand at 60 percent of petrol price, per kilogramme price of CNG would also witness an increase of Rs 2.60 during the upcoming week.
The new expected prices of the various products as a result of these changes would thus stand as follows: Petrol at Rs 105.45 per litre, kerosene oil at Rs 100.63 per litre, LDO at Rs 95.87 per litre, High Speed Diesel at Rs 110.16 per litre and HOBC at Rs 132.26 per liter, for the next week.