KARACHI: Two shipments of 58,000 tonnes and 30,000 tonnes of superior quality petrol imported by the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have arrived a few days ago, sources said. Two more shipments of 58,000 tonnes each are also coming this month.

PSO has launched a new range of quality fuel products, namely Altron Premium and Altron X High Performance. Altron Premium — which has a research octane number (RON) of 92 — has been introduced in place of Premier XL (RON 87), while Altron X High (RON 95-97) was previously called high-octane blending component (HOBC).

The new product range is currently on sale at PSO’s outlets in Karachi and would be made available nationwide in three to four days as product transhipment to central and north regions is currently under way.

A PSO spokesperson said Altron Premium is a regulated product while Altron X is deregulated.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority would set the price while oil marketing companies would determine the price of Altron X on the basis of import price. There will be a difference of Rs5-7 a litre in prices of the two products.

Published in Dawn November 8th, 2016