State owned LPG producers - Oil & Gas Development Company Limited and Pak Arab Refinery - increased their respective LPG base stock prices by as much as Rs 6,600 per ton. The increase in response to the new Saudi Aramco contract price for November was less than market anticipations.
"For the third consecutive month in a row LPG producers have been forced to maintain their prices well below the Saudi Aramco CP as the international price benchmark has flirted with new highs," said Belal Jabbar the spokesman for the LPG Association of Pakistan.
"The Supreme Court's decision to reduce CNG prices has had an adverse impact on demand for LPG as an automotive fuel which has depressed its sale," said Belal. OGDCL increased its price by only Rs 3,000 per ton to Rs 101,018 whereas Parco jacked up its price by Rs 6,600 per ton to 108,790. Together the two state-owned LPG producers account for nearly 45 percent of the country's local LPG production.
The resultant increase in producer prices is expected to push retail rates per kilo up to Rs 130 in Sindh, Rs 140 in Punjab and KP, Rs 145 in AJK and Rs 150 in Gilgit Baltistan and northern areas. The prices of domestic and commercial cylinders were expected to increase by Rs 78 and Rs 300 to Rs 1,650 and Rs 6,350 respectively, said Belal.-PR