November 14, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 8, 1423

KARACHI, Nov 13: The Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) is expected to bring down the prices of oil products on November 15 following downward trend in international prices of crude oil and finished products.

“We expect that the prices will come down by 2-5 per cent,” an analyst at Invest Capital and Securities says. “The shining of the rupee against the dollar has also been a helpful factor in bringing the import cost down,” the analyst said.

He said that crude oil prices were at $28 a barrel in the last fortnight as compared to current level of $26-27 a barrel.

A refinery official also shared the same view, hoping that the prices of finished products will witness a decline.

However, the crude oil prices in international markets have once again started crawling up from Tuesday due to looming threat of war between US and Iraq. It may not make any negative impact on the domestic prices for the current fortnight as the average price of this fortnight as compared to previous fortnight is still on the lower side.

In case the tension between US and Iraq intensifies, then the next fortnight price review, which is likely to fall under the political government, will see an upward drive in oil prices.

Diesel prices have been continuously rising since the last three to four fortnights and oil analysts are expecting a price cut this time. Transporters had already showed their anger by observing a powerful strike last week to protest against the rising diesel prices.