Pakistan moves ahead: Contracts awarded, RON 92 petrol to be made available from Nov

Oman-based firm awarded first contract, first consignment will see arrival of 55,000 tons

ISLAMABAD: After reports that the standard petrol used by a majority of the country is of low grade and the only other country to use it is Somalia, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has awarded contracts to import higher quality fuel from November 2016.

A PSO spokesperson confirmed that the shipments of Research Octane Number (RON) 92 would reach Pakistan by the end of this month and would be marketed and made available to the public from November.



Quality of petrol is measured in the amount of octane, normally indexed as the RON. In simple terms, the higher the octane number, the higher the performance of gasoline engines. Use of low-octane petrol leads to engine knocking.

The price difference between RON 87, which is currently sold in the country, and RON 92 petrol comes to about Rs2.74 per litre. However, the actual import cost and the price difference may vary from time to time according to the fluctuations in international oil prices.

The present government had decided to replace RON 87 with RON 92 earlier and moved ahead on its plan by awarding three contracts out of which the first consignment to bring 55,000 tons would reach the country by the end of October.

While fuel pumps across Pakistan continue to sell RON 87 petrol as the standard, the world moved ahead years ago with almost all countries now running at least on RON 92 petrol.

Modern automobiles, especially those with super-charged engines, are designed to operate on RON 92 or even higher rated gasoline. The high octane blending content (HOBC) sold in Pakistan is RON 97.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in its meeting held on August 16, 2016 under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had allowed the introduction of RON 92 petrol in order to make the environment cleaner and more hygienic.



Pakistan’s neighboring countries including Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka are already using minimum RON 92 petrol.

The Oman Trading International ltd (OTI) is going to supply the first ever RON 92 motor gasoline cargo to Pakistan. The vessel is expected to reach Karachi between October 25 to 27, 2016.

After ECC’s decision, the PSO floated a tender to import RON 92 gasoline to the country on September 27, 2016. Thirteen parties participated in the tendering process out of which twelve companies passed the technical bid and qualified for commercial bids.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2016.

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