KARACHI: After a delay of six days, the government finally notified the revised prices of petroleum products in the early hours of Wednesday, raising the petrol price by Rs1.45.

As per the standard procedure, the notification for revised prices is issued around midnight.

However, this time, the notification by the Finance Division came two hours late, around 2am.

According to the notification, the price of petrol has been increased from Rs235.98 to Rs237.43.

The price of High Speed Diesel (HSD) has been kept unchanged at Rs247.43. Meanwhile, the price of kerosene has been slashed by Rs8.30 from Rs210.32 to Rs202.02.

The price of light diesel oil has been reduced by Rs 4.26 from Rs201.54 to Rs197.28.

Since Sept 15, when the prices were supposed to be revised, the coalition government led by the PML-N remained indecisive over the change.

Based on the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority’s calculations, the per-litre price of diesel was to be increased by around Rs2 and that of petrol to be reduced by Rs7.

The delay triggered rumours that the government was facilitating petroleum dealers to sell their existing inventories bought at higher rates during the last fortnight.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022