KARACHI: Pakistan on Friday raised high-speed diesel above Rs400 a liter as Middle East hostilities kept global oil prices elevated, increasing pressure on transport costs and inflation.

The government increased high-speed diesel by Rs5.28 to Rs403.32 per liter and petrol by Rs5.02 to Rs375.82, with the new rates effective from Sept. 12 through Sept. 14, according to a Petroleum Division notification.

The diesel increase is particularly significant because the fuel is widely used by freight trucks, buses and agricultural machinery, meaning higher prices can feed through into transportation, distribution and food costs and add to broader inflationary pressures.

The latest revision came as Brent crude traded above $105 a barrel on Friday amid persistent concerns over Middle East supply disruptions and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea.

“The change in price is necessitated by global events including changes in Platts rates, premiums, incidentals etc,” the Petroleum Division said in its notification, referring broadly to international benchmark fuel prices, supplier premiums and other import-related costs that feed into Pakistan’s domestic pricing formula.

The increases extend a sharp rise in domestic fuel prices over the past week. Compared with rates effective on Saturday, Sept. 5, diesel is now Rs25.27 per liter higher, while petrol has risen Rs29.95, according to government price notifications.

Pakistan has been particularly exposed to the energy fallout from the Middle East hostilities because much of its imported oil and gas travels through routes vulnerable to disruption, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

Tehran has restricted traffic through Hormuz since the United States and Israel launched joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28, disrupting a waterway through which about a fifth of global oil supplies previously moved. Tehran said on Friday it would meet Gulf states in Oman on Monday to discuss the strategic passage.

Risks to regional energy supplies have also intensified around the Red Sea, where fighting between Yemen’s Houthis and government forces has escalated and the Houthis have targeted Saudi energy infrastructure in recent days.