Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
The government has cut the prices of diesel, kerosene, petrol and octane by Tk 2.0 per litre each to Tk 102 per litre, Tk 114 per litre, Tk 118 per litre and Tk 122 per litre respectively for the month of January under the automatic fuel pricing formula.
The previous pump price of diesel, kerosene, petrol and octane was Tk 104 per litre, Tk 116 per litre, Tk 120 per litre and Tk 124 per litre respectively. The reduced prices are similar to the prices of such products of July-August level of last year.
The petroleum prices have been cut for January to ensure supply of such items at reasonable prices, an order of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) stated on Thursday. The EMRD also published a gazette over the petroleum prices for January.
The government usually applies Platts's oil product assessments or benchmarks for fixing refined oil products, and for crude oil it look at S&P Global Platts's Dated Brent benchmark while buying petroleum products from the international market.
Sources said the new oil pricing formula is aimed at ensuring no loss no profit for the state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
The BPC prepared a guideline on automatic oil pricing in February 2024, under which the prices of petroleum products will be fixed. It introduced the formula in line with a recommendation from the International Monetary Fund.
Under the guideline, all types of costs including international market price, import tax, advance income tax and value added tax, operational expense, administrative and maintenance costs, BPC's margin, and distributor's margins would be added before fixing the prices of petroleum products.
Prices of octane and petrol are considered as luxury fuel, under the guideline, and hence their prices should be kept always higher than diesel. The price difference between octane and diesel should be at least Tk 10 per litre in domestic market.
Azizjst@yahoo.com