The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has rejected the concerns of the oil industry questioning the fair and correct reduction in prices of petrol and diesel effective from July 16, 2023.
In a statement, OGRA said that the criticism is unsubstantiated and against the policy guidelines issued by the federal government.
OGRA said that the prices of petrol and diesel have been worked out strictly in accordance with the formula approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on July 28, 2020, and accordingly reduction of Rs. 9 per liter in petrol and Rs. 7 per liter in diesel prices have been passed on to general public from July 16.
The said ECC decision provides that in case of non-availability of PSO’s premium, freight, or incidentals of the previous fortnight, PSO’s previous month’s available incidentals of a fortnight will be applicable.
It said that accordingly, PSO’s previous month’s available incidentals were incorporated in the price computation, however, the diesel premium applicable for the period July 1 to December 31, 2023, at $4.20 per bbl of PSO was available since May 29, 2023, as mutually agreed between PSO and Kuwait Petroleum Company, the same was included in the said prices.
Therefore, the ECC decision has been applied in letter and spirit and the assertions of the oil industry on pricing mechanism as well as supply disruptions are baseless and unacceptable, the statement added.
A day earlier, the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) said that the manipulation in pricing by OGRA has generated an inventory loss for the industry to the tune of approximately Rs. 11 billion. It added that such loss is not sustainable and will severely impact the already crippled oil industry.
