ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has, once again, hiked the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) up to Rs5.95 per kilogram.
According to a notification, the price of an 11.8-kg LPG cylinder for domestic consumers has been jacked up to Rs113 to Rs2,002. The new prices came into effect on Sunday.
Since LPG is considered the “poor man’s fuel” and is also used in the majority of areas where system gas is not available, it might hit household budgets of a large part of the population.
The LPG price has been on consecutive rise for the last several months. Saudi Aramco propane contract price also increased for the month of August 2021 by $40/tonne to $660/tonne. Price of Butane CP also increased by $35/tonne to $655/tonne. This is the third straight monthly increase and the highest so far this year. Propane and butane are two major components of LPG, which the Middle Eastern oil producers sell to Asian countries.
It is worth mentioning that for the second-half of July, the government has raised the petrol price by Rs5.40 per litre and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs2.54 per litre. Similarly, the prices of kerosene and light-diesel oil (LDO) have also been increased by Rs1.39 and Rs1.27 per litre respectively.
Earlier, for the first half of July, the government had increased petrol price by Rs2 per litre, diesel Rs1.44 per litre, kerosene by Rs3.86 per litre and that of LDO by Rs3.72 per litre. LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan Chairman Irfan Khokhar demanded the government recommence the activities of Jam Shoro Joint Venture (JJVL) and reduce taxes on LPG including levy on LPG. For the last 15 months, this plant has been closed and at the time of its closure its production was 15,000 tonnes per month.
The closure was costing around Rs1.58 billion to the economy, as the commodity was being imported to meet domestic demand.
