Following a reduction in international crude oil price, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has recommended a cut of up to Rs 6.33 per litre in the prices of petroleum products for August. According to a summary forwarded to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Finance, the regulator has suggested to reduce the prices of petrol by Rs 2.89, High Speed Diesel (HSD) by Rs 5.48, Kerosene Oil (KO) by Rs 6.33, Light Speed Diesel (LDO) by Rs 6.33 per litre and HOBC by Rs 1 per litre.
According to sources privy to the fluctuations of the petroleum products, prices average Arab Light crude price during the on-going month remained $56.57 per barrel against $61.19 per barrel of the last month, showing a reduction of over 6 percent. At present, different petroleum products are being sold on following prices: HOBC at Rs 83.8 per litre, petrol at Rs 77.79 per litre, HSD at Rs 87.11 per litre, LDO at Rs 61.51 per litre and Kerosene Oil at Rs 64.94 per litre. If the government considered Ogra recommendations the petrol prices is likely to be fixed at Rs 75.10 per litre, HOBC at Rs 82.8 per litre, HSD at Rs 81.63 per litre, LDO Rs 55.18 per litre and KO at Rs 58.61 per litre.
According to the Petroleum Ministry sources, the government may pass on the partial impact of the reduction in petroleum prices to the end consumers as on July 1 when an increase was recommended by the Ogra the government did not change the prices on providing a subsidy of Rs 6 billion. For July 2015, the authority on June 29 recommended an increase of Rs 3.06 per liter in petrol price, Rs 4.31 per liter in HOBC price, Rs 1 per litre increase in KO price, Rs 1.11 per litre in LDO price, while the authority recommended a reduction of Rs 2.21 per litre in high speed diesel price.