Pakistan cuts petrol by Rs3.40 and diesel by Rs7.76 a litre, with new pump rates in force from 3 November
Petrol will sell at Rs374.51 a litre and high-speed diesel at Rs395.20 a litre from 3 November, under the government’s new daily fuel price review, OGRA has notified.
Pakistan has cut fuel prices for 3 November, with petrol down by Rs3.40 a litre and high-speed diesel down by Rs7.76 a litre, in the first petrol reduction since the government moved to a daily price review. From Tuesday, petrol will sell at Rs374.51 a litre, down from Rs377.91, while high-speed diesel will sell at Rs395.20 a litre, down from Rs402.96, according to a notification from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).
The new rates were announced in Islamabad on Monday and reported by Geo News, Aaj English TV and Daily Pakistan, all citing the OGRA notification. The diesel cut is more than twice the size of the petrol cut, a difference that matters because diesel powers most freight transport, buses and farm machinery, so its price feeds through into the cost of moving goods and harvesting crops as well as into what motorists pay at the pump.
For petrol users, the reduction ends a run in which the price had been held unchanged. In the previous revision, announced on Friday, the government raised diesel by Rs2.29 a litre to Rs402.96 while keeping petrol unchanged at Rs377.91. Monday's announcement is therefore the first cut in the petrol price under the new system, and it replaces the rates that applied from 31 October to 2 November.
The change is being made under a daily fuel price review mechanism that replaces the fortnightly revisions Pakistan used before the current Middle East conflict. Under the new system, OGRA calculates and publishes ex-depot prices for petrol and diesel each day, based on the average international prices of the previous seven days. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik told a press conference in Islamabad on Monday that the daily prices follow international practice and are intended to pass changes in world oil prices to consumers more quickly, rather than letting them build up into a large jump at a fortnightly revision.
The timing is shaped by the war that began on 28 February, when Israel and the United States attacked Iran and Tehran shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas had passed before the conflict. That closure, and the fighting that followed, pushed up global energy prices and forced Pakistan to change how it sets domestic fuel prices, first to a weekly review and now to a daily one, as the government tries to keep pump prices closer to a fast-moving international market.
Monday's cut also sits alongside a separate change to the petrol pricing formula approved by the federal cabinet on 30 October. Under that formula, the premium, incidental charges and customs duty used to calculate the ex-refinery price of locally produced petrol are temporarily fixed at their levels of 7 March 2026, before the war began, for 30 days. The difference between the import price and that capped ex-refinery price is surrendered by refineries under the petroleum levy, with the benefit passed to petrol consumers through a lower retail price, a mechanism the government says is designed to stop local refineries pocketing a war-inflated import premium on fuel refined in Pakistan.
At Monday's briefing, Malik said domestic refineries had increased processing volumes and profited over the previous three months, and Daily Pakistan reported that the arrangement would cost refineries roughly Rs15 billion a month as they absorb part of the burden of shielding consumers from soaring international fuel costs. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held consultations with refinery representatives to find ways of limiting the impact of rising oil prices, and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar also attended the Islamabad briefing, according to the reporting.
International prices gave the government some room on Monday. Brent crude futures fell by $6.78, or about 6 per cent, to $106.65 a barrel by early afternoon GMT, while United States West Texas Intermediate crude fell $6.37, or about 6.1 per cent, to $97.75 a barrel, as talks between Iranian and Qatari officials raised hopes of easing supply disruption in the Middle East. OGRA said its adjustments reflected global developments, including changes in Platts reference rates, premiums and incidental charges, which is why a fall in world prices can now show up at Pakistani pumps within days rather than weeks.
For households and businesses, the immediate effect is straightforward: a motorist filling a 40-litre petrol tank at the new rate pays about Rs136 less than under the old rate, while a transport operator buying diesel in bulk saves Rs7.76 on every litre. Whether that relief lasts will depend on the next daily revision, because the whole point of the new system is that prices can move again tomorrow if international prices move. OGRA has begun publishing daily petroleum prices on its website so consumers, transporters and filling stations can check the current rate rather than relying on the previous fortnight's notice.
What happens next is therefore a daily question rather than a fortnightly event. If world oil prices keep falling as diplomacy progresses, further small cuts could follow; if the conflict escalates again and the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, the daily mechanism could just as quickly push prices back up. For now, the rates for 3 November are set: petrol at Rs374.51 and diesel at Rs395.20 a litre, the first reduction for petrol drivers under Pakistan's new daily pricing regime.
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