POL prices take a big leap
01 September, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the proposal of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to keep the price of petroleum, oil and lubricant (POL) products unchanged, the federal government on Saturday increased the POL prices up to Rs 7.77 per litre and CNG to Rs 7.11 per kg for a week. After crucial consultation with the Finance and Petroleum ministries, the federal government increased POL prices for a third time during August, which shifted the gigantic burden of accumulated increase of 13.03 per litre to consumers. According to a notification issued by the federal government's entities OGRA and the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), after mutual consent the price of petrol has been increased by Rs 7.77 per litre, high speed diesel (HSD) Rs 5.94 per litre, light diesel oil (LDO) Rs 5.54 per litre, high octane blending component (HOBC) Rs 8.18 per litre, kerosene oil Rs 5.86 per litre, JP-4 Rs 5.96 per litre, JP-8 Rs 6.02 per litre and E-10 Rs 7.77 per litre with an immediate effect. A senior official of the Petroleum Ministry informed our sources that the recent announcement was made in the light of the Economic Coordination Committee's (ECC) decision. However, respective parliamentary panels of the National Assembly (NA) and the Senate already expressed strong apprehensions over the ECC's decision and recommended authorities concerned to revert it. After the increase, petrol will be sold at Rs 104.55 per litre from existing Rs 96.78 per litre, HOBC to Rs 133.19 per litre from 125.01 per litre, HSD to Rs 112.13 per litre from Rs 106.19 per litre, kerosene oil to Rs 102.21 per litre from Rs 96.35 per litre, LDO to Rs 98.84 per litre from existing price Rs 93.30 per litre, E10 Rs 102.05 per litre from Rs 94.28 per litre, JP-4 Rs 83.47 per litre from Rs 77.51 per litre and JP-8 Rs 91.55 per litre from Rs 85.53 per litre for the first week of September. The All Pakistan CNG Association and government have reached agreement CNG prices. According to agreement, prices of CNG are linked with 60 percent parity of petrol price. So, the increase in price of petrol has caused hike in prices of CNG by Rs 7.11 per kg in Region-1 and Rs 6.50 per kg in Region-2. CNG price has been raised to Rs 95.72 from Rs 88.61 per kg in region-1, including the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Potohar Region (Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Gujjarkhan) and Rs 87.44 from Rs 80.94 per kg in Region-2, including the areas of Sindh and Punjab (excluding Potohar Region). All Pakistan CNG Association Chairman, Ghayas Paracha strongly rejected the recent increase in the prices of POL products and demanded that the government reverse it. According to different reports collected from different major cities including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Karachi, Peshawar, petrol pumps immediately stopped sale after they heard news about the hike in POL prices. A high-level parliamentary panel recommended OGRA and the Petroleum Ministry to revise the monthly-price mechanism. However, they set aside the recommendations and increased the POL prices in the light of the ECC's decision. End.
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