ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Petrol could become up to Rs15 a litre cheaper with the help of Pakistan’s oil refineries, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik said on Monday, adding that the government would meet refiners on Tuesday to discuss it.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad with Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Malik said some relief on petrol prices would come on Monday as well. He did not give the size of the cut or a revised price. Petrol has been held at Rs377.91 a litre.
Malik said a Rs15 a litre increase had been expected on Friday, but prices were kept unchanged with the refineries’ cooperation. Tarar said the increase was stopped on the prime minister’s strict instructions, and that refineries were bearing a burden of about Rs15 billion to provide relief.
Malik said premiums on Pakistan State Oil tenders had risen while refineries had, over the past three months, earned more than they had in years. The government had asked them to cooperate in difficult times, he said.
The fuel relief package
Tarar said more than 15 million people had so far benefited from the prime minister’s fuel relief package, with Rs27 billion disbursed to motorcyclists, rickshaw owners and owners of vehicles of up to 800cc. He said the package would continue.
Both ministers linked the pressure to the regional war, saying energy prices, insurance, logistics and transport costs had all risen. Malik said he hoped the Iran issue would move towards reconciliation and negotiations.
The refineries’ part of the deal is contested. The government changed the petrol pricing mechanism on October 30, and the head of Attock Refinery has warned that it could cost refiners about Rs49 a litre and put $5-6 billion of planned upgrades in doubt.
