In the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum, questions were raised on the pricing of petroleum products.

Senator Umar Farooq presided over a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum, during which Senator Saifullah Abro raised a question on the price formula of petroleum products and said that the prices have decreased in the world market during a week, but the prices are not decreasing in Pakistan.

He said that local oil and gas production is not being included in the current pricing, the input of local production is nowhere to be seen in the daily price formula.

The committee sought a detailed analysis of current pricing from the Petroleum Division.

Senator Saifullah Abaro also asked for the details of the relief given to motorcycles and vehicles and the expenditure incurred on the publicity of the scheme.

He said that if more money than relief is being spent on advertisements, then the purpose of giving relief will be affected.

Petroleum division officials told the committee that at present Pakistan produces about 30 percent of its petrol and 70 percent of its diesel domestically. The daily domestic production of crude oil in Pakistan is about 64 thousand barrels, while about 9 million tons of crude oil is imported annually.

According to officials, 5.5 million tons of diesel and 2 million tons of petrol used to be imported, but since June, Pakistan has not imported diesel from abroad.

Officials said that due to the decrease in the availability of diesel globally, Pakistan increased the import of crude oil.

Senator Hidayatullah objected to the daily increase in diesel prices and said that buses and vehicles run on diesel and goods are transported from one place to another, so it is not appropriate to increase the daily rate of diesel.