What happened
According to a report by Dawn, open-market prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Pakistan have risen to double the government's official rate. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) published an updated official price for November, citing shifts in global benchmarks and exchange rates. However, severe supply shortages driven by the conflict involving the US and Iran, alongside the closure of the Iranian border, have caused open-market rates to spike significantly above official limits.
Key facts
Details regarding the pricing and supply statistics reported by Dawn include:
- Ogra increased the official LPG price to Rs294,075 per tonne for November, up from Rs279,341 per tonne the previous month.
- The official retail cost for an 11.8 kg domestic cylinder rose by Rs173 to Rs3,470, setting the official per-kilogram rate at Rs294 (an increase of Rs14.73 per kg).
- The regulator attributed the price hike to a 6.47 percent increase in Saudi Aramco-CP, which was slightly offset by a 0.12 percent reduction in the average US dollar exchange rate.
- In the open market, LPG prices have reached up to Rs630 per kg, while company-operated franchises are charging as much as Rs400 per kg.
- Irfan Khokhar, Chairman of the LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan, noted that Iran supplies 70 percent of Pakistan's LPG, while domestic production accounts for only 30 percent.
Why it matters
The gas shortfall has sparked significant disputes between the private sector and government regulators. Ali Haider, Chairman of the Pakistan LPG Marketers Association, announced that member companies will initiate a strike on November 16 if the government proceeds with a proposed LPG policy that sidelines private businesses or reverses deregulation. The association submitted a letter to Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, stating that the draft policy sent to the prime minister excluded private sector input.
Furthermore, the association highlighted that out of 1.3 million tonnes of LPG consumed, private firms import most of the roughly 225,000 tonnes sourced from the Gulf. They criticized state-owned companies for failing to secure LPG imports during shortages, despite collecting billions under a 2016 policy that imposed a Rs4,669 per tonne petroleum development levy on local LPG for emergency reserves. Specific responses from the government are not specified in the source; please check the official notice.
Source: Dawn - Home · Published November 01, 2026 · Photo by Niko Azhari Hidayat on Unsplash
