Direct OGRA to consult stakeholders
The Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum, chaired by Senator Umer Farooq, met at Parliament House to review the mechanism for daily petroleum price determination, the criteria for the appointment of Chairpersons and Managing Directors of state-owned petroleum companies, the composition of their Boards of Directors, and the implementation status of the Committee’s previous recommendations.
The meeting was attended by Senator Qurat-ul-Ain Marri, Senator Saifullah Abro, Senator Abdul Wassy, Senator Rana Mahmood Ul Hassan, Senator Saadia Abbasi, Senator Hidayatullah Khan and Senator Amir Waliuddin Chishti, while Senator Jan Muhammad participated as a special invitee.
The Committee held a detailed discussion on the recently introduced daily petroleum pricing mechanism and questioned the rationale for replacing the previous fortnightly pricing system.
Federal Minister for Petroleum informed the Committee that the Federal Government had depoliticized the pricing process by empowering OGRA, as the independent regulator, to determine petroleum prices.
Chairman OGRA briefed the Committee that petroleum prices are calculated using a seven-day rolling average of Platts international benchmarks.
He maintained that the daily pricing mechanism protects consumers by spreading the impact of international price fluctuations over a seven-day period, thereby minimizing sudden price shocks especially due to ongoing US-Iran conflict.
