ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Sunday increased the prices of POL products by up to Rs 6.82 per litre and that of Compressed Natural Gas by Rs 6.32 per kilogramme for the next seven days with immediate effect.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) issued a notification regarding the hike in prices after mutual consent of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and the Finance Division.According to the notification, the price of petrol has been increased by Rs 6.82 per litre, high octane blending component (HOBC) Rs 1.50 per litre, kerosene oil Rs 0.62 per litre, JP-1 Rs 0.58 per litre, JP-4 Rs 0.77 per litre, JP-8 Rs 0.58 per litre for the next week.
However, OGRA was of the view that where public will have to bear with a hike in other POL products, they would be able to enjoy a decrease in the price of high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 1.75 per litre and light diesel oil (LDO) Rs 0.14 per litre for the next week.After the increase, the new price of petrol is Rs 106.72 per litre, up from from Rs 99.90 per litre, HOBC Rs 137.96 per litre from Rs 136.46, kerosene oil Rs 104.68 from Rs 104.06 per litre, JP-1 Rs 94.25 per litre from Rs 93.67, JP-4 Rs 86.37 per litre from Rs 85.60 and JP-8 Rs 93.94 per litre from Rs 93.36 for the next seven days. However, the price of HSD has gone down to Rs 113.77 per litre from Rs 115.52 and light diesel oil (LDO) from Rs 99.41 per litre to Rs 99.27.
Last week, the government had increased the prices of high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 3.39 per litre, high octane blending component (HOBC) Rs 3.27 per litre, kerosene oil Rs 1.85 per litre, light diesel oil (LDO) Rs 0.57 per litre, JP-1 Rs 11.04 per litre, JP-4 Rs 2.13 per litre, JP-8 Rs 1.81 per litre; while the price of petrol was decreased by Rs 4.65 per litre.Experts are of the view that the decision taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) regarding the price determination mechanism of POL products on weekly basis has failed to provide relief to consumers.
Meanwhile, as per commitment of the Ministry of Petroleum with the CNG sector to marginalise the gas price at 60 percent of petrol, the federal government announced a massive increase in the rates of CNG by Rs 6.32 per kilogramme for Region-1 and Rs 5.69 per kilogramme for Region-2.After the increase, the gas would be available at Rs 97.68 per kilogramme instead of Rs 91.45 per kg in Region-1, including the areas of KP, Balochistan and Potohar region (Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Gujjar Khan); and Rs 89.24 per kg from Rs 83.55 in Region-2, including the areas of Sindh and Punjab (excluding Potohar region).
According to reports collected from major cities, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Karachi, Peshawar, it was revealed that petrol pump owners immediately stopped selling fuel to consumers as soon as they got information of change in prices. – Dailytimes
