Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar has said the latest surge in prices of petroleum products was caused by escalation in crude oil price in the international market. "Oil price in the global market has increased by over 10 per cent touching the level of $95 per barrel from the recent one which was around $85," the minister justified while talking to reporters during the ground breaking ceremony of a school in a village in Tando Muhammad Khan District on Saturday.
Naveed said the government was although cognisant of the repercussions that would be entailed by the increase but it could not manoeuvre the rates because the local oil production was hardly about 15 per cent of the country's net consumption and the major share was being contributed by the oil imports.
"This factor makes the international market of crude oil the arbiter for setting prices of petroleum products in Pakistan," he added. To a question Naveed maintained that the option of preventing the petroleum prices from going up with the help of deficit financing method was out of the question.
"The country is already groaning under the weight of inflation sparked off by the flawed decisions of previous regime of controlling oil prices by printing extra currency notes," he added. When he was asked as to why the government had allowed the recent boost in the urea price, the minister while disavowing the move of the fertiliser industry said that the increase though triggered by weekly closure of natural gas supply to the industrial sector was 'too much to be acceptable'. "A little difference is justified but not this phenomenal one."
"PSDP has been slashed so much that it almost amounts to nothing," Naveed observed in reply to a question about allocation of adequate funds in the next budget for the country's Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). However, he assured that the government would ensure that it sets aside sufficient funds for PSDP in the Budget 2011-12.
Talking about the ground-breaking ceremony which he came to perform, the minister informed that British Petroleum (BP) was building a school for children of the village Ali Ghulam Jalalani in Taluka Bulri Shah Kareem under the aegis of The Citizen Foundation (TCF) project.
"BP will spend Rs 10 million on the school's construction, while its running expenditures will be borne by oil and gas production bonuses at the disposal of the district government," he added. Naveed expressed hope that the standard of education to be provided by the school would be veritable to the leading private schools operating in the bigger cities as to make the village children able to compete with the students of private schools.
Later on, the minister inaugurated electric supply to 5 villages in Taluka Bulri Shah Kareem besides performing some other ground breaking ceremonies for construction of storm water drains, water supply lines, drainage, sewerage lines and footpaths at Hyderabad-Badin Road and from Abdul Fatah Chowk to Railway Crossing Mulakatiar Road.