Petrol crisis: Four more PSO officials suspended

Finance minister absolved of blame.

ISLAMABAD:

The government has suspended four more senior officials at the state-owned Pakistan State Oil over their alleged responsibility for the petrol crisis in Punjab, even as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar appears to have been exonerated for his role in the matter.

Dar had refused to let PSO buy US dollars in December to make payments to international oil suppliers because he wanted to meet the year-end target of foreign exchange reserves set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Yet he appears to have largely escaped any responsibility for the petrol crisis that ensued in January as a result of low oil inventories.

The four officials were suspended on the recommendation of the two-member inquiry committee into the petrol crisis. The committee was headed by Zafar Muzaffar, adviser to the petroleum ministry, and reportedly a close confidante of the finance minister. Muzaffar has been tipped to replace Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi after the Senate election next month.

The move to suspend four officials comes weeks after five senior officials in the petroleum ministry and PSO were already suspended over their alleged role in the crisis, including the petroleum secretary and the managing director of PSO. The four officials suspended include PSO Deputy Managing Director Jehangir Ali Shah, Senior General Manager Dr Zaidi, and the oil supply heads of Islamabad and Punjab. Shah is reportedly a close relative of former petroleum minister Naveed Qamar.

In his testimony to several parliamentary and other committees, the petroleum minister has attributed the petrol crisis to a sudden and – in his view – an unexpected surge in demand in Punjab. He also cited the regular maintenance shutdowns of Pak Arab Refinery and National Refinery as causes for the crisis. However, he has not been able to provide any reason for why officials from PSO should be held responsible when PSO does not control the refineries nor the level of demand.

The suspension of senior officials, meanwhile, has resulted in chaos at the country’s largest oil company at a time when several critical decisions need to be made. PSO is managing the deal to import LNG from Qatar and the suspension is likely to slow down progress at a time when Pakistan’s energy supplies are already strained.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2015.