Petrol now costs Rs391.22 a litre and high-speed diesel Rs421.45, effective today (PSO).
Today
| Fuel | New | Change | Previous | |—|—|—|—| | Petrol | Rs391.22 | +Rs6.88 | Rs384.34 | | High-speed diesel | Rs421.45 | +Rs5.62 | Rs415.83 |
Eleven days
| | 7 September | 17 September | Change | |—|—|—|—| | Petrol | Rs345.87 | Rs391.22 | +Rs45.35 (+13.1pc) | | High-speed diesel | Rs378.05 | Rs421.45 | +Rs43.40 (+11.5pc) |
Petrol is Rs8.78 short of Rs400.
The awkward detail
This newspaper reported yesterday that oil had retreated on an unexpectedly large build in US crude inventories, and that a fall would be the first good news in this sequence.
Petrol then rose Rs6.88 — its largest single-day increase since the Rs12.90 rise on 8 September.
There is no contradiction, only a lag: a daily revision reflects the period before it, not the morning it lands. But it is worth stating plainly, because it answers the question industry and Jamaat-i-Islami have both put. If the mechanism passes falls through as fast as rises, the effect of that inventory build should appear within a day or two. If it does not appear, the symmetry claim fails.
That is now a checkable prediction rather than an argument, and we will report either outcome.
The relief, again
The Rs75 billion package was designed when petrol was Rs375.82. It is now Rs15.40 higher. For a motorcyclist claiming the full 20 subsidised litres, the increases since have taken back about Rs308 a month of a Rs2,000 benefit.
The levy is unchanged at Rs106 a litre — Rs80 petroleum levy, Rs5 climate support levy, Rs21 customs duty — now about 27 percent of the price.
What is not established
OGRA has published no statement. It has not been said whether the relief will be indexed, and the scheme’s start date has not been announced.
[Image: File photo via The Express Tribune]
