Prices of major fuels may fall by 9 and 5-9pc

The government is likely to decrease the price of diesel and kerosene by around 9 per cent and of octane and petrol by around 5-6 per cent this month, said sources in the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.
‘We are planning to reduce the price of diesel and kerosene by around 9 per cent. The existing price of diesel and kerosene is around Tk 55 per litre, so we may decrease price of these major fuels by around Tk 5 per litre,’ said a highly placed source in the division.
He, however, said that the decrease in prices of octane and petrol, mostly used by the affluent section of society, would be lower than that of diesel and kerosene. ‘Octane and petrol prices might be reduced by around 5-8 per cent,’ he said. The existing price of octane is Tk 90 and petrol Tk 87 per litre.
The government increased the price of diesel and kerosene to Tk 55 from Tk 40 per litre and octane to Tk 90 from Tk 67 and petrol to Tk 87 from Tk 65 on July 1.
The source said that the chief adviser wanted to reduce the fuel prices anytime this month.
However the special assistant to the chief adviser, M Tamim, told New Age on Friday that they were still trying to decide by how much the prices should be reduced.
When he was asked whether they would reduce the prices by 5 to 10 per cent, Tamim said, ‘Maybe, but we are yet to decide by how much the prices can be reduced. The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation is working on the issue. We will know soon.’
Tamim said that while reducing the fuel prices they would consider much subsidy could be given to diesel and kerosene, which are mostly used by the transport and agricultural sectors and the rural people.
He said that although fuel prices had come down in the international market, the BPC continued to incur losses in selling diesel and kerosene. On the other hand, it is making profit in selling octane and petrol, but it sells only around 2 lakh tonnes of octane and petrol against around 24-26 lakh tonnes of diesel and kerosene.
‘The BPC is at present importing refined diesel at a rate of around $100 per barrel. If the refined diesel’s price had come down to $92 per barrel and if the price in local market had remained Tk 55, the BPC would have arrived at a break-even position,’ Tamim said.
‘We, however, will not wait for diesel price to come down to $92. We will continue to subsidise diesel and kerosene,’ he said.
Tamim said that when the prices of fuels were increased in July in the local market, the price of crude oil was around $141 and of refined oil $180 per barrel in the international market.