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According to OGRA, claims of a price increase in petroleum products are'misleading.' The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) announced Saturday that speculative petrol and diesel price increases reported in media outlets are "misleading," according to The News.
In a short statement, OGRA spokesperson Imran Ghaznavi said: "It has been noted that speculative prices of petrol and diesel are being reported in the print and electronic media since last evening (Saturday)," adding that the claims are "misleading and false".
People began flocking to fuel stations as the government was likely to raise petrol prices by almost Rs83 per litre. "The elements, distributing misleading and false information, to avoid propagating speculative pricing of petroleum products in the public interest," the regulatory authority warned.
However, in order to persuade the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Ministry of Finance is likely to raise fuel prices by Rs20-21 and diesel prices by Rs25 in the forthcoming weekly review.
It should be highlighted that the rupee's significant devaluation against the US dollar in the previous two days would have no impact on the review due on January 31 (Tuesday), since the average exchange rate would be Rs240, according to information acquired from the country's oil industry.
However, the weekly assessment coming on February 15 is expected to show a large increase in domestic petroleum costs owing to currency devaluation.
"The rapid strengthening of the dollar against the rupee in the previous two sessions would be reflected in the adjustment of gasoline prices on February 15, when the dollar rate computation will begin from Rs260," informed oil industry sources said.
There is no gasoline shortage
Earlier on Tuesday, the regulator firmly denied reports of a scarcity of POL goods in Pakistan, particularly petrol and diesel, and stated that sufficient stockpiles were available.
According to an OGRA official, the country has enough gasoline and diesel supplies to last 18 and 37 days, respectively.
"Furthermore, ships carrying 101,000MT [Metric Ton] fuel are in berth/outer anchorage," it said.
The announcement was given during a nationwide power outage, which fueled suspicion that the country was running out of fuel to operate its power plants.
