The Pakistani government is likely to raise prices of petroleum products for the next fortnight following a sharp increase in global crude oil prices.

The petrol price is likely to see an increase of PKR 5 per liter while diesel price will likely go up by PKR 9 per liter. This is because ex-refinery price of petrol has shot up by PKR 4.70 per liter while diesel is up by PKR 7.20 per liter, respectively.

Crude oil prices have been rising in recent weeks. They climbed about 2% to a four-month high on Monday on expectations that wider U.S. sanctions on Russian oil would force buyers in India and China to seek other suppliers.

Brent futures rose $1.25, or 1.6%, to settle at $81.01 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.25, or 2.9%, to settle at $78.82. That put Brent on track for its highest close since Aug 26 and WTI on track for its highest close since Aug 12, and kept both benchmarks in technically overbought territory for the second day in a row.

In its last review on Dec 31, the government raised the prices of diesel by PKR 2.96 to PKR 258.34 while petrol price saw an increase of PKR 0.56 to PKR 252.06.

Prior to that, diesel prices saw a drop of PKR 3.05 while petrol prices remained unchanged.