Why do diesel and petrol prices move differently in Pakistan?

In Pakistan, petrol and diesel are priced from different world prices. Petrol starts from a price for finished petrol; diesel starts from crude oil.

So the 2 prices do not have to move together. From 18 September to 13 October 2026, diesel fell by Rs 28.07 a litre.

Over the same dates, petrol rose by Rs 4.58.

Both figures come from the build-up, the price sheet of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA). It lists every line of a litre.

Many people think both fuels follow “the oil price”. The 2 sheets use 2 different oil prices, and only diesel’s is crude oil.

How has the gap between diesel and petrol changed?

Diesel cost more than petrol on every sheet from 21 July, when my record begins, to 7 October 2026.

Then it cost less on 3 sheets in a row. On 9 October, diesel was Rs 395.72 and petrol Rs 398.96.

On 13 October, diesel cost more than petrol again, by Rs 1.48. So diesel is not simply “cheaper now”.

The gap was Rs 61.15 on 19 August. It fell to Rs 25.55 on 20 August, the day OGRA rebuilt the diesel sheet.

Other diesel lines moved that day too, so I do not say the new layout caused the fall. The diesel restructure note has the detail.

Why do petrol and diesel start from different prices?

Each sheet starts with row A, a world price in US dollars a barrel. It comes from Platts, which publishes daily oil prices.

For petrol, row A is finished petrol (Gasoline 92 RON). For diesel, since 20 August 2026, it is Dubai crude oil.

Crude oil is not yet diesel. So the diesel sheet adds more dollar lines before it reaches a cost, as the table shows.

Row D is the refining margin, which OGRA’s sheet calls the “HSD crack”. HSD means high-speed diesel.

The sheet describes it as the “Difference of international price of HSD and crude”: the world price of diesel, minus crude.

Petrol’s sheet has no such line. Its row A is already a price for finished fuel, so the cost of refining is inside it.

Which diesel lines move, and which stay the same?

My record holds 38 diesel sheets from 20 August to 13 October 2026. Row A, Dubai crude, changed from each sheet to the next.

It ranged from US$89.46 on 20 August to US$124.75 on 18 September.

The other 3 dollar lines barely moved. Row D, the refining margin, was US$41.89 on all 38 sheets.

Row C, freight and insurance, was US$8.00 on all 38. Row B, the Aramco premium, was −1.00 until 29 August and −1.50 from 1 September.

The sheet calls row B a premium “notified on monthly basis”, and row C a “Federal Government approved” cost.

The sheet does not say why row D has not moved. I report it as printed and do not guess.

So since 1 September, only row A and the exchange rate have moved diesel’s cost and freight.

Why did diesel fall while petrol rose?

Compare the sheets for 18 September and 13 October. On 18 September, diesel was at its highest in my record.

On the diesel sheet, row A fell by US$16.32 a barrel. Rows B, C and D did not change at all.

With a small move in the exchange rate, diesel’s cost and freight in rupees fell by Rs 28.76 a litre.

IFEM, the cost of moving fuel inland, rose by Rs 0.69. Every other diesel charge stayed the same; the pump price fell by Rs 28.07.

Petrol’s row A rose by US$0.84, and its premium fell by US$1.58. Its cost and freight in rupees fell by Rs 1.55.

Petrol’s customs duty rose by Rs 5.34, to Rs 24.93. Other small lines moved too, and the pump price rose by Rs 4.58.

So diesel fell with its row A, Dubai crude. Petrol’s biggest change was its customs duty, a line that stayed the same on diesel.

Does the Government take the same from both litres?

Almost. Since 20 August, petrol and diesel have carried the same Petroleum Levy, Rs 80.00, and the same Climate Support Levy, Rs 5.00.

Before that, diesel’s levy rose in 7 steps, from Rs 70.82 on 5 August to Rs 80.00 on 20 August. Petrol’s was Rs 80.00 throughout.

Sales tax was Rs 0.00 on both. That leaves customs duty as the only Government line that differs.

Diesel’s customs duty was Rs 15.68 on every sheet from 1 August to 13 October.

Petrol’s has ranged from Rs 17.28 on 21 July to Rs 25.63 on 1 October.

Both sheets print the same explanation: the duty is based on cargoes Pakistan State Oil (PSO) imported in the last 7 working days.

The sheet does not explain why diesel’s figure has stayed the same, so I do not either.

On 13 October, the Government’s part was Rs 109.93 of petrol’s litre and Rs 100.68 of diesel’s. The whole Rs 9.25 gap is customs duty.

Whether the levy itself raised prices is a separate question. Did the petroleum levy raise the petrol price? answers it.

How were the 2 litres built on 13 October?

On 13 October the 2 pump prices were Rs 1.48 apart. Split into the site’s 3 groups, they were built differently.

Diesel’s fuel cost more to bring to Pakistan, by Rs 13.95 a litre. Petrol’s Government part and its cost to reach the pump were higher.

So 2 nearly equal prices can be made of different parts. What makes up the petrol price explains each group.

You can see every line on the petrol build-up and the diesel build-up.

How can you compare the 2 fuels yourself?

Open the date comparison and pick any 2 days. It shows which lines moved, and by how much.

The diesel history shows the diesel price over time. Each day page links to the OGRA document it was read from.

Every figure in this note is printed on an OGRA sheet, or is a sum or difference of printed figures.