Claim: An article published on wavenewz.com on 1 October 2021 claims petrol prices in Pakistan will drop significantly by 15 October 2021. The article states that WTI Crude oil prices will drop to 68 dollars per barrel, while Brent Crude oil prices will come down to 69 dollars per barrel.
Fact: No summary suggesting an impending drop in petrol prices has been moved by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), the agency that is responsible for regulating the oil and gas sector in Pakistan. The article on wavenewz.com in fact contradicts OGRA’s most recent official notification, dated 1 October 2021, which indicates that fuel prices are on the rise as per future contracts.
Petrol price (the price at the pump) is a composite of global fuel prices and local taxes and subsidies. As on 12 October 2021, the prices of Brent and WTI crude stood at 83.6 and 80.8 dollars per barrel respectively, while the price at the pump stood at a minimum of 127.8 rupees per litre for petrol and 122 rupees per litre for diesel across fuel stations in Pakistan.
Sources at OGRA (whose names have been withheld for privacy reasons) confirmed to Soch Fact Check that no summary has been moved for approval that would bring down petrol prices; in fact, OGRA’s recent notification increased fuel prices.
Graphs Courtesy: Business Insider.
Furthermore, according to oilprice.com’s real-time price charts, prices for both Brent and WTI crude are hovering around USD 80 per barrel, far higher than the USD 68 claimed in the article.
Prices for Brent crude are estimated at USD 82 per barrel for December contracts, while WTI crude stood at USD 79 per barrel for November contracts as of 8 October 2021. As such, there is no publicly available market information to suggest that global oil prices will be declining in the coming weeks.
Conclusion: Global oil prices are not expected to go down, nor has the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority moved a summary that suggests petroleum prices will be dropping significantly in Pakistan.