ISLAMABAD: On the directions of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,  the government on Thursday announced to reduce the prices of petroleum products, DawnNews reported.

The new prices will be implemented from Friday midnight.

The price of petrol will be reduced at least by ten rupees and 15 paisas and CNG price will be reduced by six rupees and 25 paisas, OGRA (oil and gas regulatory authority) sources said.

The price of HBOC (high octane) will be reduced by 11 rupees and 76 paisas and kerosene oil price will be reduced by four rupees and 25 paisas, OGRA sources added.

The price of diesel will be reduced by four rupees and 98 paisas while light diesel’s price will be reduced by fives rupees and 2 paisas. High speed diesel’s price will be reduced by six rupees and eight paisas, DawnNews learnt.

Government to keep CNG at 60 per cent of petrol price

Earlier in a meeting, Ministry of petroleum and All Pakistan CNG (compressed natural gas) association reached a consensus  that the price of CNG will be maintained at sixty percent of petrol's price.

The Ministry of petroleum assured the CNG association that the gas price will be maintained at the agreed level for a year.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the president of the CNG association Ghayas Ahmed Paracha announced that all issues have been resolved with the Ministry of petroleum. Adding that he said that the government has also announced to reduce gas load-shedding by eight hours.

He said that the CNG stations in Punjab region will remain closed for two and half days instead of three days.

The association president said that the government has convinced us to raise the tax on CNG on a condition that the gas price will remain sixty per cent of the price of petrol.

After decrease in the price of petroleum products in the international market from June 16, the government has issued a notification to cut down the CNG price as well.