ISLAMABAD - The government Thursday increased the petrol price by Re1 per litre and High Speed Diesel (HSD) Rs 0.27 per litre for the month of November.

“The government has decreased the prices of Kerosene and Light Diesel oil and slightly readjusted the prices of other petroleum products for the month of November 2019 as per recommendations of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra),” said a notification issued by the Finance Division here.

As per the finance division notification, the price of LDO was decreased by Rs 6.56 per litre while Super Kerosene Oil was cut down by Rs 2.39 per litre. The price of High Speed Diesel was raised by Rs 0.27 and Petrol by Re1 per litre, said the notification.

After the revision petrol price has gone up from the existing Rs113.24 per litre to 114.24 per litre, diesel price to Rs127.14 per litre from the current Rs127.14 per litre.

Similarly after decrease LDO price reduced to Rs85.33 per liter from Rs91.89 per liter. LDO is mainly used for industrial purposes.  he price Kerosene oil reduced from current Rs 99.57 to Rs 97.18 per litre.

Apparently the government has gone back on its earlier commitment to not increase the oil prices for November. While announcing its decision for keeping the prices for October unchanged the finance ministry had announced that the “decision to maintain the prices has been taken to offset expected prices hike for November.” For October Ogra had proposed Rs2.55 per litre price decrease for petrol, Rs3.23 cut for High Speed Diesel (HSD).

A day earlier, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had proposed that prices of petrol may be increased by Rs1 per liter and high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 0.27 per litre. Ogra has proposed a reduction of Rs2.39 per liter (2.4 percent) in Kerosene oil and Rs 6.56 per liter (7.14 percent) for LDO. 

Kerosene is used for cooking purpose, especially in remote areas where LPG or pipeline gas is not available.

The Brent oil price in international market on October 30 was $61.15 per barrel while on September 27 it was recorded at $62.22 per barrel, August 30 ($60.14) and on July 30, it was $64 per barrel. Earlier, in April and June, it was hovering near $72 per barrel.

The government has begun increasing petroleum levy rates to partially offset a revenue shortfall of over Rs113 billion faced by the Federal Board of Revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

The levy remains in the federal kitty unlike the GST that goes to the divisible pool, of which about 57 per cent is grabbed by the provinces.

Petrol and HSD are the products that generate much of the revenue for the government due to their massive and yet growing consumption in the country. About 800,000 tonnes of HSD are sold every month in the country against a monthly consumption of around 700,000 tonnes of petrol. The sales of kerosene oil and LDO are generally less than 10,000 tonnes per month.