Lahore faces 60% petrol shortage

Lahore needs three million litres of fuel supply per day

LAHORE:

The petroleum dealers and retailers, who are doing business in Punjab, said that they fear an additional shortage of petroleum products from next month due to a high possibility of the price hike by the government.

The petroleum dealers said that currently provincial capital Lahore was facing a fuel supply shortage of 60%, which could get worse if the authorities concerned fail to take stern against the oil marketing companies.

“Lahore is getting a fuel supply of 40% and a big chunk of it comes from the Pakistan State Oil, as supplies from other private oil marketing companies are not regular these days, Petroleum Dealer Association of Pakistan Secretary General Khwaja Atif said.

He further said supplies were running dry and long queues of people were seen at many filling stations.

“There is news about a price hike in petroleum products circulating these days, we are expecting Rs6-7 per litre hike if government adjust this price hike by lowering some petroleum levy or other tax for the same amount, then things might get better, else we may see people drifting from petroleum products from next month.

As per stakeholders, Lahore needs an approximate fuel supply of three million litres per day for over 400 petrol pumps, whereas the Punjab province required over40 million litres of fuel for over 5,000 petrol pumps. There are more than 9,000 fuel stations across Pakistan.

The representatives of the PSO, the government-owned company, said that they were providing ample fuel not only to its retail centres but also to other small scale companies. The company said that it has received a cargo of around 58,000 MT of Mogas on May 30, which is followed by five more cargoes of around 60,000 MT for this month.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2020.