By Admin 
Pakistan Petrol/Diesel Crisis: The effect of increasing tension in the Middle East regarding the Iran-Israel war is now visible in Pakistan too. The people of Pakistan, who were already facing the brunt of inflation, got another big shock when the government here announced to increase the prices of petrol and diesel to a record level in the history of the country.
There is an atmosphere of chaos in Pakistan due to this announcement made on Friday night. People are running here and there to fill fuel in their vehicles before the new prices are implemented. In cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, people are flocking to petrol pump stations to buy more fuel due to concerns about rising prices, causing traffic jams.
How much have the prices increased?
Shahbaz Sharif’s government in Pakistan has increased the prices of petrol and diesel by 55 Pakistani rupees on March 7, which is considered to be the biggest increase till date. With this, the new price of petrol has now reached PKR 321.17 and the price of diesel has reached PKR 335.86 per liter.
The surprising thing is that this increase in prices happened 24 hours after the government assured the people of the country that there are huge reserves of crude oil in the country. Whereas according to reports, at present Pakistan has only 26-28 days of petrol-diesel and 10 days of crude stock left. To save fuel, the government is recently considering the options of working from home (WFH) and running online classes in schools.
Impact on oil supply in Pakistan
Oil supply in Pakistan has been badly affected due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz between Israel and American attacks from Iran. Pakistan is dependent on Saudi Arabia and UAE for its oil needs. Pakistan imports 80-85 percent of its oil requirement.
In the business year 2023-24, Pakistan imported about 9.05 million metric tons of crude oil. Pakistan imports 4,30,000 barrels of oil per day, whereas the daily demand in the country is 5,00,000 barrels. Pakistan spent about $5.61 billion in crude oil imports alone in 2024 and about $11.94 billion in the first nine months of the business year 2024-25.
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