ISLAMABAD - The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has yesterday recommended to the govt to reduce the prices of petrol by Rs 8.48 per litre for the month of March.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has forwarded a summary to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, proposing to slash the petrol (Motor Spirit) prices by Rs 8.48 per litre from the current from the current Rs 71.25 per litre to Rs 62.77 per litre. Similarly, the authority has also recommended reduction in the rates of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) by Rs 4.67 per litre.
The authority also proposed a reduction of Rs 2.98 per litre in High-Octane Blended Component (HOBC), Rs 1.97 per litre in Light Diesel Oil (LDO) and Rs 1.66 per litre in Kerosene oil prices.
OGRA has worked out the proposed reduction on the basis of imported oil prices that was provided to the authority by the oil marketing companies. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources will send it to the Ministry of Finance which will then take final approval from the Prime Minister.
If approved by the Prime Minister the new prices of High Speed Diesel will come down to Rs 71.12 from Rs 75.79 per litre, the price of Light Diesel will come down to Rs 37.97 from Rs 39.94 per litre, the prices of kerosene oil will come down Rs 41.59 from Rs 43.25 per litre while the prices of High-Octane Blended Component (HOBC) will come down to Rs 72.68 to Rs 75.66 per litre.
It is pertinent to mention here that for February OGRA has recommended a decrease of Rs 7.56 per litre in the prices of petrol, Rs 10.15 per litre in the prices of High Speed Diesel (HSD) and High Octane and Rs 8.17 per litre in the prices of kerosene.
However, ignoring the OGRA recommendation the government has announced a reduction of only Rs 5 per litre in all the categories of the POL products.
The source, however, maintained that the government is likely to leave the POL prices unchanged.