The government will be implementing a deregulation mechanism under the newly proposed oil policy through which prices of oil would be set by market forces.
The policy will be effective from November 1 of this year.
Currently, prices of petroleum products (POL) like petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) are regulated while furnace oil is deregulated.
According to reports, a meeting was held on Wednesday in which the executives of oil refineries, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik, Energy Task Force Chairman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and officials of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) reached an agreement.
Media reports citing sources have said that all parties agreed that both locally produced and imported POL products would compete in the market.
The government had recently agreed to increase margins of oil marketing companies (OMCs) by Rs7 per litre, which would be effective till November of 2022.
The margins of OMCs would be withdrawn subsequent to the new deregulation policy on November 1. Prices of POL products will then be left to market forces.
Currently, 50 percent of petroleum products are being imported by Pakistan State Oil (PSO) whereas the other 50 percent of the products are being produced locally by oil refineries.
