Pakistan cuts petrol price as Iran diplomacy cools oil markets
Arab News PK reports the reduction as Brent slips from six-month highs, but LPG still costs Rs600 a kilogram in Lahore and Islamabad.
Pakistan has cut petrol prices, Arab News PK reported on Tuesday, as crude oil eased on hopes that diplomacy involving Islamabad, Riyadh and Ankara can calm the Middle East: though prices remain close to six-month highs and cooking gas is still selling at up to Rs600 a kilogram.
The report did not state the size of the reduction or when it took effect.
Brent crude futures were down 66 cents, or 0.57 per cent, at $115.15 a barrel at 0000 GMT, with US West Texas Intermediate down 44 cents, or 0.43 per cent, at $101.32, Business Recorder reported. By 1311 GMT Brent stood at $114.81, down $1.00, and WTI at $100.98, down 78 cents. Brent touched $117 on Monday, its highest level since April.
The fall followed talks in Tehran on Monday between Iranian officials and representatives of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye. Iranian Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Tuesday, a day after those talks. Iranian state media said the four countries had agreed to continue talking with a view to strengthening cooperation in peace and security, and that Khamenei had stressed the importance of pursuing Iran's interests and maintaining its conditions for ending the war.
Hopes of immediate stability were dented by fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Houthis said on Tuesday they had struck the Ras Tanura refinery, the kingdom's largest, with a ballistic missile. Business Recorder reported that October had been the worst month for attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and nearby waterways, citing data compiled by a Washington-based think tank that has tracked maritime incidents since 2017. UBS said it expected Brent to hold near $110 a barrel until the end of the year, raising an earlier forecast of $100. SEB analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said the market was pricing a significant risk premium for the possibility of US and Israeli attacks on Iran in the coming weeks.
At the United Nations, Pakistan's acting permanent representative, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, told a Security Council briefing on Iran and nuclear non-proliferation that the situation had sharply deteriorated and urged all sides to exercise restraint and settle the dispute through diplomacy, Dawn reported. He said mounting tensions and a lack of consensus in the council had made a diplomatic settlement more urgent.
Consumers in Pakistan are still paying heavily for the fuel most households cook with. Minute Mirror reported LPG at Rs600 a kilogram in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Rs570 in Peshawar and Rs530 in Karachi and Quetta, despite a resumption in supplies. The burden falls hardest on households with no piped natural gas.
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