The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has decided to fix petroleum products' prices fortnightly.

This was stated by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain while talking to reporters here on Tuesday.

"We have decided in principle to fix the prices of petroleum products fortnightly instead of monthly basis," he said adding that the duration would be reduced to weekly and finally daily basis.

The decision was taken on the request of oil refineries, who wanted oil prices to be reviewed after 15 days, Dr Asim said and added that the prices of petroleum products would be deregulated within a few months.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and Ministry of Finance had last month opposed the Petroleum Ministry's move to fix petroleum products' prices after every 15 days, but the ministry forwarded a summary to the Economic Co-ordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) seeking its approval.

On March 29th, Ogra sent a proposal to the Petroleum Ministry suggesting review of POL products' prices after every three months.

The authority argued that due to frequent fluctuation in oil prices in the international market, local prices should be fixed on quarterly basis in a bid to provide relief to the common people.

However, the Petroleum Ministry termed the Ogra proposal impracticable.

According to an official, the ministry has forwarded a summary to ECC of the Cabinet after approval from the Petroleum Minister.

The official further said that the oil refineries were pushing the Petroleum Ministry to review POL products' prices after every 15 days.