Admore Gas on slippery ground

Regulator has suspended company’s licence several times, slapped penalties

ISLAMABAD: Admore Gas (Private) Limited - an oil marketing company - is in a sorry state as it has paid millions of rupees in penalty to the regulatory authority for failure to build critical storages in the country. The company is currently operating following a stay order from court.

Admore won in 2003 an oil marketing licence, which was confirmed after it met all the criteria. At that time, Anwer Masud Zaidi was the major sponsor of the company with 70% shareholding. He later sold 51% of shares to Aamir Waliuddin Chishti, who runs Darul Shifa hospital at Gulistan-e-Johar.



The company was required to develop oil storage facilities that could keep stocks for 20 days. Not only Admore, all oil marketing companies need to build storage tanks to meet domestic demand and stave off any threat of shortage.

However, after more than a decade, storages were nowhere to be seen, leading to suspension of Admore’s marketing licence on a number of occasions.

The regulator - Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) - suspended the company’s marketing licence in September 2011 for delay in putting in place the required infrastructure in Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to feed the retail outlets.

The regulator also slapped a penalty of Rs3 million for gross violation of terms and conditions of the licence. It told the company to ensure the development of infrastructure according to government’s directives before resuming marketing activities.

Later, Ogra set aside its directives and permitted Admore to re-start marketing activities in the three provinces with orders that the company would ensure construction of storage facilities, especially in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, by June 30, 2014.



It also asked the company to prepare and submit quarterly progress reports for assessing its performance.

The regulator again swung into action in October 2015 after realising that Admore had not been able to meet the commitment. Ogra stopped the company from marketing oil and running petrol filling stations in Sindh and Balochistan.

It gave clear directives, saying efforts for building the storage facilities should be stepped up to avoid any further action.

Consequently, Admore filed an appeal and gave assurances to the regulator that the company would complete work on the Daulatpur depot in Sindh by the end of December 2015.

It said the company had begun construction of the storage tank and work would pick up pace from October 19, 2015. It also agreed to pay the penalty. Thereafter, the regulator allowed Admore to resume operations and directed that the storage facility in Sindh should be developed by May 31, 2016.



However, Admore again failed to meet the deadline, prompting the regulator to suspend the company’s marketing activities in the province in July 2016. It noted that Admore could not widen the storage infrastructure according to terms and conditions of its licence.

This time Admore managed to get a stay order from court against the suspension and is now operating under that order. Admore retails refined petroleum products and lubricants with more than 350 outlets across the country.

the writer is a staff correspondent 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2016.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.