Reporting snapshot · 13 October 2026 (Asia/Karachi). Pakistan's federal government has set petrol at Rs395.37 and high-speed diesel at Rs396.85 a litre from Tuesday, 13 October, cutting petrol while raising diesel. This article sets out the new ex-depot rates, how the daily pricing mechanism works and why the two fuels moved in opposite directions. Prices can change again at the next daily review.
What changed for 13 October
The federal government cut the ex-depot price of petrol by Rs2.93 a litre to Rs395.37 and raised high-speed diesel (HSD) by 61 paisas to Rs396.85, effective Tuesday, 13 October, according to the Petroleum Division notification reported by The Express Tribune and Geo News. Both are wholesale, or ex-depot, rates; pump prices are higher once dealers’ margins are added.
The revision reverses the previous adjustment. For 10–12 October the government had cut petrol by 66 paisas to Rs398.30 and raised HSD by 52 paisas to Rs396.24, as KhabarWire reported. Over the two revisions petrol has fallen about Rs3.59 a litre while diesel has edged up about Rs1.13 — a split that matters because diesel drives freight, agriculture and transport, while petrol is what most households buy directly.
The regulator, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), publishes the notified prices on its website. OGRA’s notified-petroleum-prices page is the official record of the daily ex-depot rates and is updated with each notification.
Why petrol fell while diesel rose
Petrol and diesel are refined from the same crude but are not the same product, and their prices do not always move together. Under the daily mechanism the two are repriced separately from their own international references and from the landing costs of the cargoes Pakistan is importing, so a fall in one and a rise in the other is a normal outcome of the formula rather than a contradiction.
The structure of Pakistan’s imports also pulls the two apart. Geo News reported that, for fiscal year 2026-27, HSD imports will be routed exclusively through Pakistan State Oil while oil marketing companies may import petrol in proportion to their market shares; companies that miss their import obligations can lose fresh permission for up to nine months. Concentrating diesel in a single state importer can change the timing and cost at which it is procured, even as petrol is sourced competitively.
Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik has said the daily prices are based on a seven-day average of international market prices, in line with common practice elsewhere. That averaging smooths some of the day-to-day volatility that the cabinet’s shift to daily pricing was meant to capture, but it also means a single sharp move in crude takes several days to feed through fully.
How the daily pricing mechanism works
Pakistan moved to daily fuel pricing on 21 July 2026, replacing a weekly system that had replaced the older fortnightly practice. The trigger was the Middle East war that began on 28 February, when strikes on Iran led Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz, previously the route for about a fifth of the world’s energy. With supply uncertain, the government chose to pass changes through daily rather than weekly.
Under the cabinet-approved framework, OGRA issues daily ex-depot prices without prior approval from the prime minister or cabinet, Friday prices hold through the weekend, and OGRA began publishing daily Platts reference prices from 1 July 2026. The petroleum levy cannot exceed the cabinet’s ceiling, and kerosene and light diesel oil are also priced daily.
Since daily pricing began, petrol has been raised 35 times and cut 22 times, and diesel has seen 34 increases and 23 reductions, The Express Tribune calculated — churn that makes the seven-day averaging and the levy ceiling important buffers.
The oil-market backdrop
The 13 October revision lands in a week of renewed energy-market tension. In Riyadh on Monday, OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais said the group had cut its 2026 global oil-demand growth forecast to about 400,000 barrels a day from an earlier 1.4 million barrels a day — a downgrade of roughly 71% — citing weaker-than-expected consumption through the year, while projecting that deferred demand would return in 2027. He warned of persistent underinvestment across the oil chain. The News International reported the revision.
Weaker demand normally pushes crude down. But supply risk dominated: crude rose to near two-week highs on Monday as attacks on Saudi Arabia overshadowed the downgrade, with Brent up about 2% at $106.76 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate at $93.69. An analyst quoted by The Express Tribune said the sense of normality in Hormuz exports “was shattered last week” after fresh Houthi attacks. KhabarWire’s 5 October account of Middle East crude flows set out how exports had recovered towards pre-war levels while staying exposed to such disruption.
For Pakistan, which imports the bulk of its petroleum, those international movements translate quickly into the import bill and the local price. That is why a demand forecast and a missile strike in the Gulf can both show up in the notified price within days.
Relief and conservation measures
The government has built two cushions around the high prices. On 13 September, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Rs100 off a litre of petrol for motorcycles, three-wheelers and cars up to 800cc, covering about 11.8 million beneficiaries. Roughly 10 million two-wheeler users and 800,000 three-wheeler users can claim relief on 20 litres a month, worth up to Rs2,000 each, and about one million small-car users can claim 30 litres, worth up to Rs3,000.
On 17 September the government reinstated austerity and fuel-conservation measures: shops, markets and malls close by 9pm, marriage halls by 10pm and restaurants by 11pm, with takeaway and delivery exempt. KhabarWire set out the measures in its report on the revived austerity drive. Together with daily averaging and the levy ceiling, these are the government’s main tools for containing the political cost of prices that remain close to Rs400 a litre.
What is still uncertain
Three things are unresolved. First, the next revision is unknown; under daily pricing it will be set by the seven-day average of international prices and the landing costs of contracted cargoes, neither published with the notification. Second, the full fiscal cost of the Rs100 relief scheme is not fixed in the public record, and subsidies of this kind sit awkwardly alongside an IMF programme. Third, crude’s direction remains hostage to the Middle East conflict: OPEC’s demand downgrade argues for lower prices while continued strikes on Gulf infrastructure argue the opposite.
KhabarWire will update this page at the next notified revision, or sooner if the pricing framework itself changes.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of official price notifications and independent reporting, not eyewitness reporting. The new ex-depot rates, the previous revision and the mechanics of the daily pricing framework are drawn from The Express Tribune's and Geo News' reports of the Petroleum Division notification. The official daily rates are published by OGRA. The OPEC demand revision is from The News International's report of the secretary-general's remarks in Riyadh, and the crude-price and supply context is from The Express Tribune and KhabarWire's earlier reporting. All sources were reviewed on 13 October 2026 (Asia/Karachi). Figures are as notified and can change at the next daily review.
- Primary source — Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority: Notified Petroleum PricesUpdated with each daily notification · The regulator's official record of ex-depot petrol and high-speed diesel prices, including the 13 October revision.
- Independent source — The Express Tribune: "Govt cuts petrol by Rs2.93, increases diesel by 61 paisas for Oct 13"Published 12 October 2026 · The Petroleum Division notification, the new and previous rates, the run-count of daily revisions, the Rs100 relief scheme, the September conservation measures, and the crude-price and analyst context.
- Independent source — Geo News: "Petrol price cut by Rs2.93, diesel hiked by Re0.61 per litre"Published 12 October 2026 · The new ex-depot rates, the seven-day averaging basis, OGRA's daily publication of prices, the revised FY2026-27 import arrangements for diesel and petrol, and the kerosene and light-diesel provisions.
- Independent source — Profit by Pakistan Today: "Govt cuts petrol price by Rs2.93, raises diesel by 61 paisas for October 13"Published 12 October 2026 · Independent confirmation of the effective date and the OGRA ex-depot revision.
- Independent source — The News International: "OPEC slashes 2026 oil demand growth forecast to 400,000 BPD"Published 12 October 2026 · OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais's cut to the 2026 demand-growth forecast, the 2027 rebound expectation and the underinvestment warning.
