Islamabad: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved a 15.5% increase in petroleum dealers' margin, raising it to Rs9.98 per litre from Rs8.64 per litre, effective from September 1, 2026. This decision follows the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association's (PPDA) threat of a nationwide strike, which has since been called off.

According to JS Global, the increase in dealer margin had been pending since December 2025, when it was first approved by the ECC. However, its implementation was delayed due to a federal cabinet decision linking it to digitisation targets set by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA). Dealers opposed this linkage, arguing that digitisation was primarily the responsibility of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). The latest ECC decision effectively removes the digitisation condition for dealer margins.

The OMC margin, however, remains unchanged at Rs7.87 per litre. Although a Rs1.22 per litre increase was approved, its implementation has been contingent upon achieving full digitisation by June 2026. The federal cabinet has tied the entire increase to meeting a 100% digitisation target, and no components of this increase have been notified to date.

The recent approval of the dealer margin increase could potentially improve the likelihood of notifying the pending OMC margin revision, which has been outstanding for nearly three years. Both margin revisions were approved under the same summary, based on the fiscal year 2024-2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) indexation. The last increase in the OMC margin was implemented in October 2023, raising it from Rs6.00 per litre to Rs7.87 per litre, prompting further analysis of the potential earnings impact of any future increases.