ISLAMABAD: The federal government on the eve of Eidul Azha increased the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by up to Rs5 per litre.
According to a notification issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Friday, the rate of petrol has been jacked up by Rs3.86 per litre, raising it to Rs103.97 from Rs100.10 per litre.
Similarly, the government has increased the price of high speed diesel by Rs5 per litre after which it will be available for Rs106.46 from the existing Rs101.46 per litre. This fuel is used in agriculture and transport sectors and therefore increase in its price would affect these sectors and inflation would go up further.
An increase of Rs5.97 per litre has been made in the price of kerosene oil, taking its rate to Rs65.29. This fuel is used in remote areas where LPG is not available for cooking purpose.
Moreover, light diesel oil price has been hiked by Rs6.62 and its new price will be Rs62.86 per litre. This fuel is used for industry.
The new rates will take effect from Saturday midnight.
On June 26, the government had decided to increase the price of petrol by Rs25.58 per litre for month of July in line with the hike in global crude oil prices.
According to reports, the real impact of increase in petrol was Rs31 per litre based on the data and working made by Pakistan State Oil (PSO). However, the government decided to increase price of petrol by Rs25.38 per litre.
On July 29, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan had announced that the government planned to hold a thorough investigation into the fuel crisis, which occurred in June, to take the elements involved in hoarding and creating artificial shortage of the commodity to task.
“A commission has been formed by the federal cabinet in its last meeting,” the minister told the National Assembly.
Wondering where the stocks had gone, he noted the sales of petrol stood almost at 28 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year.
“Definitely, some oil marketing companies and dealers had been involved in creating artificial shortage [of petrol] to make a quick buck, which was evident from the fact that there was no shortage of fuel after the government had announced increase in the price of petroleum products for the month of July,” he said.
