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Petrol Prices
Losses on petrol have widened to Rs 18 per litre and to Rs 35 on diesel as state-owned fuel retailers continue to keep pump prices frozen despite a sharp rise in input costs, sources said. Despite prices being deregulated more than a decade back, state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) have not changed the retail petrol and diesel price since April 2022. Global crude oil prices have seen sharp fluctuations over this period - from above USD 100 per barrel following the Russia-Ukraine war, to easing to around USD 70 a barrel earlier this year, before surging again to about USD 120 last month after the US-Israel attacks on Iran triggered fresh supply concerns. The three firms were incurring losses of about Rs 2,400 crore per day at the peak last month, which have since narrowed to around Rs 1,600 crore daily after the government cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10 per litre each - a ...
A day after an unprecedented surge in fuel prices triggered severe backlash, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced slashing the petrol price by PKR 80. Sharif in a midnight address Friday announced that the government has decided to reduce petrol levy by PKR 80 per litre, making the commodity available to the end consumer for PKR 378 per litre. The government on Thursday announced an unprecedented hike of 43 per cent and 55 per cent in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), respectively. The rise in petrol price from PKR 321.17 to PKR 458.41 per litre came as the government levy increased from PKR 105 to PKR 160 per litre. The government had also increased HSD price by PKR 184.49 per litre -- from PKR 335.86 to PKR 520.35 -- but had abolished the levy, prompting demands that the government should follow suit with regard to petrol price, providing some relief to citizens. "I am announcing an immediate reduction of PKR 80 per litre in petrol levy," he said,
Pakistan has announced an unprecedented increase of 43 per cent and 55 per cent in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD), respectively, in response to spiking global oil prices amid the US-Israel war on Iran. The government made the announcement on Thursday. The price of petrol has been increased by Rs 137.23 per litre (42.7 per cent) to Rs 458.41 from Rs 321.17, while HSD by Rs 184.49 per litre (55 per cent) to Rs 520.35 from Rs 335.86, with immediate effect. The price of kerosene was also increased by Rs 34.08 per litre to Rs 457.80. The government also adjusted the petroleum levy rates to limit the increase in diesel prices as the levy on petrol was increased to Rs 160 per litre from Rs 105, while it was reduced to zero on diesel from Rs 55. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik while making the announcement, which he termed as a "difficult decision", said that the objective was to restrict subsidies to the most deserving segments while maintaining fiscal discipline an
Prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, were more than doubled to a record Rs 2.07 lakh per kilolitre on Wednesday, driven by the the surge in global oil prices linked to the widening West Asia conflict. This is the first time ATF prices have crossed the Rs 2 lakh per kilolitre (kl)-mark. ATF prices in Delhi were hiked to Rs 207,341.22 per kl, from Rs 96,638.14 per kl. On March 1, prices of jet fuel were hiked by 5.7 per cent (Rs 5,244.75 per kl).
The Congress on Friday claimed that the government's excise cuts will not change prices for dealers and consumers, and that the relief exists only in the narrative, not in reality. The government has slashed excise duty on petrol to Rs 3 per litre and exempted diesel fully from the duty. The Congress said the government should focus on delivering actual relief to consumers, instead of "manufacturing headlines and fooling people." The party's media and publicity department head, Pawan Khera, said, "If you saw the headlines about petrol and diesel prices 'coming down' and thought the government had offered relief to your pocket, you'd be mistaken." As of now, prices remain the same for dealers and for consumers, he claimed. "What has actually been reduced is the 'special additional excise duty' - a levy paid by Oil Marketing Companies to the government. The words 'special' and 'additional' reveal how unnecessary this tax is," Khera said on X. He pointed out that these companies ha