PSO suggests kerosene price hike to prevent adulteration

Senate body meets to clamp down on mismanagement

ISLAMABAD: The price of kerosene oil ought to be increased to stop petrol pumps from mixing the cheap oil with diesel, suggested Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

The quest to trace root causes of corruption in the oil sector remained inconclusive in a Senate body meeting on Monday, as oil companies were blamed for weaker supervision, while the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) cited stay orders from courts for failure to check mismanagement.



The sub-committee of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources was astonished to note that many oil companies were selling more petrol and diesel than their storage capacity.

PSO representative’s suggestion to increase kerosene oil’s price was met with criticism.

“Tomorrow you will ask for the price of wheat to be increased for some reason - but adulteration does not happen because of the poor people who use the fuel, but because of you,” Senator Mir Muhammad Yousaf Badini said, adding, “Only because you or the people in this room do not use kerosene, you think it should be made costly.”



Convener of the sub-committee Senator Taj Muhammad Afridi said, “There is so much mess in the oil sale business but both the oil companies and the regulator (Ogra) have failed to check the mismanaged state of affairs.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2016.

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