Petrol stations across Punjab run dry

Dealers blame absence of supplies for fuel shortage

LAHORE: Though the government and oil and gas regulator are denying any shortage of petroleum products in the country, petrol stations in various parts of Punjab, especially the provincial capital, are turning away customers owing to unavailability of stocks.

Citizens from various areas of the metropolis, on Sunday, complained about the shortage of fuel in their areas.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Muhammad Arshad complained that most of the petrol stations, except those run by the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), in Township area have been closed due to unavailability of petroleum products.

“Citizens have to wait in long queues to buy fuel as only a few petrol pumps are open,” he claimed.

Since the government has started to reduce the prices of the petroleum products complaints of scarcity are common, another citizen, Ihsan Raza, said.

“Sometime back, the government and petrol stations had asserted that supply disruption was caused by the lockdown. Now the authorities are simply denying the shortage instead of addressing the problems,” Raza remarked.

He pointed out that in various areas mini petrol pumps and small shops have somehow managed to maintain stocks, which they are selling at high prices and nobody has turned up from the administration to question them.

Farman Ali, who was on the look out to find fuel, highlighted that most petrol stations near new vegetable markets have depleted stocks but illegal dealers of petroleum products are enjoying a heyday.

He asked the government to take serious action against this illegal trading besides ensuring supply of fuel at the petrol stations. Petroleum Dealers Association Information Secretary Khawaja Atif told The Express Tribune that petrol stations are not getting the required stocks from the marketing companies resulting in the shortage of all petroleum products, including petrol and diesel.

He also indicated that only the government-owned PSO is supplying products to the petrol stations, while other oil marketing companies have curtailed or halted supply. Answering a question, he said that other companies did not place orders for the procurement of oil which caused scarcity of petroleum products in almost all parts of the country.

“Petrol stations have already incurred a huge loss as a consequence of coronavirus-induced lockdown. Citizens should question the government, energy ministry, and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) instead of blaming petrol stations for fuel shortage,” he said.

“We are merely retailers in the fuel supply chain who buy stocks and sell these after adding our commission,” he stressed. All Pakistan Petroleum Retailers Association (APPRA) Chairman Sameer Najmul Hassan also asserted in a press release that oil companies are likely to run out of stocks in the next few days.

“They have been left with a stock hardly enough to last more than three days,” he said. He also mentioned that the new quota of petroleum products is not being purchased due to a consistent decrease in the oil companies’ quota. No company other than the PSO is buying oil at present, the APPRA chairman underlined.

“The situation is expected to go from bad to worse till Sunday,” the APPRA chairperson had warned a couple of days ago before the onslaught of the crisis.

Instead of penalising those responsible for the dearth of the essential resource, the federal government has falsely claimed repeatedly that there is no shortage of petroleum products in the country.

Federal Minister for Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan had said earlier that some oil marketing companies (OMCs) and retailers had created an artificial shortage of petroleum products for gaining illegitimate profits.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2020.