It comes as a great shock that our country’s oil imports can so easily be threatened
KARACHI: This, indeed, is a potential catastrophe. Out of Pakistan’s three main oil import terminals, two are non-functional and undergoing upgrades and repairs. They are Oil Pier-1 and Oil Pier-3. Only Oil Pier-2 is operating at the moment.
These three oil import terminals form the backbone of Pakistan’s petroleum industry. It comes as a great shock that our country’s oil imports can so easily be threatened due to a lack of foresight. It will take the authorities eight months or so to make both the terminals functional again. Knowing how fast repairs are done here, I am sure the actual time taken will be even longer.
As a concerned Pakistani citizen, my question for our relevant authorities is: how and why are we so pathetically complacent to allow this situation to persist? If, God forbid, something happens to Oil Pier-2, Pakistan’s oil sector will literally come to a standstill. This is indeed a grave situation. I urge our planners to urgently find a solution to it.
Syed Ovais Akhtar
Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2020.
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