By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The government raised petrol and diesel prices again on Friday, extending a steady climb in fuel costs this month as war in the Middle East continues to unsettle global oil markets.
The Petroleum Division, part of the Ministry of Energy, said in a notification that the ex-depot price of Motor Spirit — sold at the pump as petrol — will rise Rs5.02 to Rs375.82 a litre. High-speed diesel will increase Rs5.28 to Rs403.32 a litre. Both prices take effect Saturday and run through Monday, September 14. The increases build on Friday’s prior-day prices of Rs370.80 for petrol and Rs398.04 for diesel. The government attributed the revision to global market conditions, citing shifts in Platts pricing benchmarks, premiums and incidental costs.
Petrol has climbed from Rs342.79 a litre on September 1 to Friday’s Rs375.82, a rise of more than Rs33 in under two weeks. Diesel has moved from Rs370.41 to Rs403.32 over the same stretch — an increase of nearly Rs33 a litre.
The war began February 28, when U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Iranian retaliation and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply normally moves. Oil prices spiked immediately: Brent crude, which had been trading near $71 a barrel in the days before the strikes, surged past $100 within about ten days as Gulf producers — Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE among them — cut output or declared force majeure on shipments. Brent briefly topped $110 in the weeks that followed, a level not reached since the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The conflict’s duration and its effect on prices in the months since have continued to evolve.
It was against that volatility that Pakistan abandoned its weekly fuel-pricing schedule in mid-2026 in favor of daily reviews, a shift meant to let domestic prices track international crude and product markets more closely than the old system allowed. The revised mechanism lets the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority adjust ex-depot prices without separate cabinet approval for each change, tying Pakistan’s pump prices more directly to the war’s swings.
Petrol in Pakistan is used mostly in private and small vehicles, including motorcycles and rickshaws, so increases weigh disproportionately on middle- and lower-income households. Diesel carries broader economic reach — trucking, public transport, power generation, industrial equipment — meaning its price moves ripple further through freight and logistics costs nationally.
Pakistan imports a significant share of its petroleum needs, leaving its fuel prices closely tied to the war’s effect on crude benchmarks, the security of shipping routes including the Strait of Hormuz, and the rupee’s exchange rate.
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