Fuel shortage: Pumps shut as petrol supply dries up

Black market sellers expect hefty profits till supplies are restored in a couple of days.

LAHORE:

A drop in supply from oil refineries, the weekly CNG closure and panic buying of petrol led to the closure of most of the city’s petrol stations on Tuesday and forced commuters to turn to the black market.

The shortage began a couple of days ago when the Attock Oil Refinery was closed for maintenance. On Tuesday, some pumps were open in Defence and Cantonment, but most pumps were shut elsewhere, especially in Dharampura and Garhi Shahu. The petrol pumps that remained open were limiting sales of petrol to Rs100 per motorbike and Rs500 per car.

Muhammad Shahzad, president of the Pakistan Petrol Dealers Association, said apart from the closure at Attock, the Pak-Arab Refinery Company (PARCO) had a lower stock of petrol than diesel and oil companies had not stocked much oil for the expected shortage. He said panic buying by commuters had also made the situation worse.

He said that the situation would improve in a few days as a consignment of oil imported by Pakistan State Oil had reached Karachi port.

Black market

The beneficiaries of the shortage were small black market petrol sellers, who were selling it for between Rs125 and Rs150 per litre, way above the market rate of around Rs87 per litre.

“The shortage will only last a couple of days so we have to take advantage while we can,” a seller told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

He said that he usually kept a higher stock of petrol near the end of the month or when a price hike was expected because that was usually when a shortage struck the market.

Rana Zahid, a customer at the same shop, said he had to buy the overpriced petrol. “All the pumps are closed so I have no choice,” he said. “It’s better than having to push my bike around.”

“If the government can’t control the shortage they should at least warn us in advance so these situations don’t arise,” said Shakir Ali, who was travelling in an auto rickshaw from pump to pump looking for petrol for his car.

“There’s no petrol, no CNG, and transporters have raised their fares. How am I supposed to get to work?”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2011.