Petrol, diesel prices left unchanged for next fortnight

The care­taker government decided to keep the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) unchanged for the first fortnight of the new year. According to a statement issued by the finance ministry, the per-litre price of petrol will remain at Rs267.34 and that of HSD at Rs276.21 until mid-January. The ministry said the government had left the prices unchanged on the recommendation of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). The latest review shows that petrol and diesel prices increased by around Rs50 per litre during the year, as they stood at Rs214.8 and Rs227.8 per litre on Jan 1, 2023. The calculations made by Ogra were largely based on a marginal increase in the prices of Brent crude and a slight drop in the Arab Gulf basket rates amid threats to shipping due to the Israeli war on Gaza. An official of an oil marketing company (OMC) said that some tanker operators had stopped sending their vessels through the Red Sea to avoid the threat of drone and missile attacks in that region by the Houthi rebels of Yemen.