"Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar announced after the approval of the Prime Minister, that the prices of Kerosene oil, High Octane and Light Diesel Oil will remain unchanged from 1st April 2015 while the prices of petrol will be increased by Rs 4 and High Speed Diesel's by Rs 3 only," the statement said.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had suggested an increase of Rs 7.66 per litre in High Octane Blending Component (HOBC), Rs 6.25 per litre in High Speed Diesel Price, Rs 4.40 per litre in petrol prices, Rs 2.56 per liter in Light Diesel Oil and Rs 1.50 per litre in kerosene oil prices.
"Due to an increase in international crude oil prices the authority has suggested an increase in the fuel prices; otherwise till March 20, a reduction in the petroleum products' prices was expected," said an Ogra official.
After the current review in the petroleum product prices, the new prices of petrol will be Rs 74.29 per litre against Rs 70.29 per litre and HSD's Rs 83.61 per litre against Rs 80.61 per litre. The HOBC will keep selling at Rs 80.18 per litre, LDO at Rs 57.94 per litre and Kerosene Oil at Rs 61.44 per litre.
Last month, the Ogra recommended up to 15 percent increase in prices of petroleum products and a 7.3 percent cut in high speed diesel (HSD) for March, 2015, but the government did not pass on the burden to ultimate consumers by adjusting General Sales Tax (GST).
Last month, Ogra recommended a Rs5.59 per litre (7.95pc) increase in the price of petrol from Rs70.29 to Rs75.88. But it proposed a reduction of Rs5.49 per litre (7.30pc) in HSD price from Rs80.61 to Rs75.12.
Ogra sought to raise the price of High Octane Blending Component (HOBC) by Rs12.92 per litre (15.71pc) to Rs92.93 per litre from Rs80.31 per litre; kerosene's by Rs7.32 (11.91pc) to Rs68.76 per litre from Rs61.44 per litre and light diesel oil's (LDO) by Rs5.50 (9.49pc) to Rs63.44 per litre from Rs57.94 litre.