Petroleum ministry has decided to increase margin of oil dealers and oil marketing companies on petroleum products, which after the approval of federal cabinet would jack up the prices of petrol and diesel up to Rs0.65/litre across the country, sources said on Monday.

At present petroleum dealers are getting Rs2.37/litre margin over the sale of petrol and Rs2.20/litre in high-speed diesel (HSD) while the margin of Oil Marketing Companies on petrol stands at Rs1.98/litre and on diesel, it is Rs1.76/litre.

Reliable sources in petroleum ministry disclosed to TheNation that following the demands of dealers and marketing companies, the ministry has given its nod to further increase the margin of petroleum dealers and oil marketing companies (OMCs) involved in the business of fuel oil. They said the ministry has decided to raise the dealer’s margin by Rs0.40/litre on petrol while margin of OMCs on petrol by Rs0.25/litre and Rs0.10/litre on diesel. They also said that Adviser Dr Asim Hussain has also given approval to forward the summary to the federal cabinet’s economic coordination committee (ECC).

It merits mentioning here that if ECC gives its approval to the proposed raise then the over burdened consumers of petroleum products would bear the brunt of increase in the margin of dealers and marketing companies because the prices of petrol and diesel would witness a raise by Rs0.65/litre in the country.