Petrol shortages: Govt takes urgent steps
Marketing companies asked to supply all stock, gas outages reduced.
KARACHI:
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has come up with emergency steps to tackle petrol shortages which have started spreading from one region to the other following closure of a major refinery and low stocks of petroleum products.
These steps were discussed during a high-level meeting between petroleum ministry officials, including Petroleum Secretary Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry, and representatives of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) on Wednesday. During the deliberations, the OMCs were asked to immediately release all available stock of petrol to the market.
A day earlier, in a meeting at the president’s office, the government had directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority to cancel licences of the OMCs which had failed to build storages to keep required stocks of oil products. It is mandatory for the OMCs to maintain oil stocks for 20 days of demand.
The issue arose at the start of this week when Lahore experienced shortage of petrol at filling stations due to shutdown of a plant of Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) for one month for repair and less-than-required stocks of oil products with OMCs. Now, shortages have spread to Sindh with Karachi feeling its pinch on Wednesday.
In recent months, inter-corporate debt has affected a chain of companies in the energy sector with refineries operating below their production capacity due to financial constraints. In the budget for 2011-12, the government has earmarked Rs120 billion to deal with the runaway debt and improve the performance of companies.
In the meeting on Wedne-sday, the petroleum ministry announced that gas outages for compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Faisalabad and Bahawalpur regions on Friday and Saturday would be done away with for one day. This is expected to divert the demand from petrol to gas as millions of vehicles run on CNG in the country. The ministry asked the National Refinery Limited (NRL) to increase its output from 80 per cent to 100 per cent with immediate effect. “NRL will release the entire available stock urgently and Pak-Arab Refinery Company (Parco) will increase supply of petrol to maximum possible capacity and ensure swift transport to retailers,” it said. Besides, oil tankers stationed at Faisalabaad will be mobilsed immediately.
The ministry said a team comprising representatives from the OMCs and petroleum ministry would visit Lahore and Faisalabad to monitor the prevailing situation and submit a report to the ministry.
It warned that the government would take stiff action against those petrol stations which were not supplying fuel to consumers despite having available stock.
The ministry assured OMCs that they would be provided with the required quantity of oil in all future gallop tenders and said Pakistan State Oil (PSO) may consider providing oil to other companies to the extent possible without affecting its own performance.
The ministry directed Attock Refinery Limited to repair the damaged plat-former sooner than planned in mid-July.
A PSO official told The Express Tribune that though there was pressure at the company’s filling stations due to shortage of petrol at outlets of other marketing companies, PSO was satisfactorily meeting the demand. “We have adequate quantity of petrol and diesel and there is no shortage at all.”
The official said PSO was not depending on refineries for fuel supplies and three petrol consignments carrying a total of 120,000 tons would reach the country this month.
“PSO is equipped to meet the demand of motorists in Karachi and is also catering to the needs of upcountry as well,” the official added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has come up with emergency steps to tackle petrol shortages which have started spreading from one region to the other following closure of a major refinery and low stocks of petroleum products.
These steps were discussed during a high-level meeting between petroleum ministry officials, including Petroleum Secretary Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry, and representatives of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) on Wednesday. During the deliberations, the OMCs were asked to immediately release all available stock of petrol to the market.
A day earlier, in a meeting at the president’s office, the government had directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority to cancel licences of the OMCs which had failed to build storages to keep required stocks of oil products. It is mandatory for the OMCs to maintain oil stocks for 20 days of demand.
The issue arose at the start of this week when Lahore experienced shortage of petrol at filling stations due to shutdown of a plant of Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) for one month for repair and less-than-required stocks of oil products with OMCs. Now, shortages have spread to Sindh with Karachi feeling its pinch on Wednesday.
In recent months, inter-corporate debt has affected a chain of companies in the energy sector with refineries operating below their production capacity due to financial constraints. In the budget for 2011-12, the government has earmarked Rs120 billion to deal with the runaway debt and improve the performance of companies.
In the meeting on Wedne-sday, the petroleum ministry announced that gas outages for compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Faisalabad and Bahawalpur regions on Friday and Saturday would be done away with for one day. This is expected to divert the demand from petrol to gas as millions of vehicles run on CNG in the country. The ministry asked the National Refinery Limited (NRL) to increase its output from 80 per cent to 100 per cent with immediate effect. “NRL will release the entire available stock urgently and Pak-Arab Refinery Company (Parco) will increase supply of petrol to maximum possible capacity and ensure swift transport to retailers,” it said. Besides, oil tankers stationed at Faisalabaad will be mobilsed immediately.
The ministry said a team comprising representatives from the OMCs and petroleum ministry would visit Lahore and Faisalabad to monitor the prevailing situation and submit a report to the ministry.
It warned that the government would take stiff action against those petrol stations which were not supplying fuel to consumers despite having available stock.
The ministry assured OMCs that they would be provided with the required quantity of oil in all future gallop tenders and said Pakistan State Oil (PSO) may consider providing oil to other companies to the extent possible without affecting its own performance.
The ministry directed Attock Refinery Limited to repair the damaged plat-former sooner than planned in mid-July.
A PSO official told The Express Tribune that though there was pressure at the company’s filling stations due to shortage of petrol at outlets of other marketing companies, PSO was satisfactorily meeting the demand. “We have adequate quantity of petrol and diesel and there is no shortage at all.”
The official said PSO was not depending on refineries for fuel supplies and three petrol consignments carrying a total of 120,000 tons would reach the country this month.
“PSO is equipped to meet the demand of motorists in Karachi and is also catering to the needs of upcountry as well,” the official added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.