After dealers, OMCs seek immediate Rs1.22/litre increase in margins

According to Profit, the Oil Companies Advisory Council wants the government to bring into effect without delay a Rs1.22 per litre rise in the regulated margin of oil marketing companies, an adjustment the Economic Coordination Committee has already cleared. In a letter to Energy Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, the council said the current Rs7.87 per litre margin has been frozen since September 2023.

Operating under that unchanged margin, OMCs kept going through FY2023-24, FY2024-25 and FY2025-26 even as financial, regulatory and compliance costs climbed. The approved adjustment rests on annual national CPI readings for FY2023-24 and FY2024-25, yet the notification is still pending. The council also objects to making the increase depend on digitisation, and points out that OMCs have submitted a three-year implementation plan.

The council cited cash strain, noting roughly Rs66.7 billion of Price Differential Claims still owed, plus unresolved GST and input-tax reimbursements. It said companies have kept supplying fuel without interruption since March 2026 despite geopolitical disruption, and that their regulated gross margin is only 2%. The letter seeks settlement of arrears on margins for FY2025-26 and FY2026-27, along with a system for timely annual revisions, and warns that sustained financial strain might put off investors in the downstream fuel segment.