And petrol makes a welcome comeback

After a week of petrol shorta­ge, most pumps are back in busine­ss.

LAHORE: After over a week of crippling petrol shortage, most petrol pumps were back in business on Thursday.  Happy days for black marketeers, who made off with an estimated Rs150 million from desperate consumers, are behind them for now.

Black marketeers have been busy pointing fingers at one another for the high prices while consumers complained about the poor quality of fuel.

Petrol became scarce immediately after Eid. From September 13 to September 22, there was a severe shortage of petrol in the province. During this time, petrol was sold in the black market for more than Rs100 per litre.

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) managing director Irfan Sheikh said that Punjab consumed 110,000 metric tons (MT) of gasoline a month.  PSO, he said, provided 50,000 MT which was around 48 per cent of the market share. Sheikh said that the closure of the Pak Arab Refinery Limited meant that the marketing companies selling its products were unable to provide fuel, PSO petrol stations were the only option for people.

People bought petrol at higher rates for 10 days. The city of Lahore consumes around 30,000 MT of petrol in one month, or 10,000 MT in one day.  PSO’s share of that in 10 days would come to 4,900 MT.  This means that the remaining 52 per cent, or 5,100 MT, was provided by the black market. Stakeholders in the market said that even though consumption might have decreased due to the shortage, at least 5,000 MT was used in the city during these 10 days.

Black marketeers, they said, took full advantage of this situation. “If petrol was sold at an average of Rs100 per litre then black marketeers would have earned at least Rs30 per litre and 5,000 MT would mean Rs150 million for them,” said a Petrol Pump Dealers’ Association office bearer speaking on condition of anonymity. He said that petrol, during those days, was sold at up to Rs120 per litre and adulteration was rife.

“Alternatives to petrol are available at Rs60 to Rs70 per litre. But this was a favoured product during these days,” he said.  He said that many vendors had been selling 50 per cent petrol with 50 per cent ‘other’ fuels.

A private petrol vendor said that he had not bought petrol at the official rates; instead he bought it at Rs85 to Rs95 per litre. Imran Butt, a private petrol dealer in Township, said, “It is not true that we earned runaway profits. Petrol pump owners are the ones who did.” He said that private vendors had made only nominal profits. “In regulation market we make about Rs2 to Rs3 per litre, during these days our profit rose to Rs5 to Rs7 per litre. That is not ‘huge’.”

Many consumers complained that due to the adulterated product their vehicles were not operating properly. Asad Ali, a motorcycle owner, said, “I bought petrol from private dealers at a higher rate and now my motorcycle is not working properly.” Ali said that he had realised early that the quality of petrol was poor but he was hard pressed for options.

Pakistan Petroleum Dealers’ Association chairman Abdul Sami Khan said that it is hard to check private dealers’ profiteering and adulteration. He said it was harder to figure out which stakeholders had fleeced the public more. “Everyone will want to place the blame on others,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2010.