Suspension of licenses: Sindh High Court sets aside OGRA notice

Seven companies were penalised for not maintaining stocks.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday set aside the order of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) under which it had suspended on Wednesday the marketing activities of seven oil marketing companies (OMCs) for not maintaining the mandatory oil stocks.

The SHC set aside Ogra’s order on the petition of Hascol Petroleum Limited that it had filed on the same day.

Besides suspending the marketing activities, Ogra had imposed a penalty of Rs3 million each on Hascol, Askar, Admore, OOTCL, Bakri, Byco and Total Parco for not maintaining the 20-day mandatory fuel stock.

Ogra’s order, if implemented, would have resulted in suspension of oil supplies to the pumps of these OMCs throughout the country.

OGRA officials said that OMCs did not maintain the required stocks in violation of the rules. They said that their failure to follow the rules could result in the disruption of oil supplies in the country.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Hascol Petroleum’s National Sales Manager (Lubricants) Baqar Alam said that Ogra’s decision to suspend marketing operations of seven OMCs would have been disastrous for the oil business in the country had Hascol not approached the court immediately.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th,  2011.