Supply issues: Need to enhance G-B’s oil storage capacity

ISLAMABAD:

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called for increasing petroleum storage capacity in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) to ensure smooth operations and timely completion of the economic corridor and other projects.

Talking to a group of businessmen, ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh discussed how oil supply to the area is disrupted due to closure of the main road resulting in a fuel shortage. “Economic corridor, water reservoir and revamping highways would require much more fuel than the 1 million litres the existing infrastructure can potentially hold,” said Sheikh.

“Compared to Pakistan’s storage facility that meets up to two days’ requirement (three initially, reduced to two after the economic corridor project) India can store fuel enough to meet two weeks’ requirement, US two months’, while all EU countries must have storage enough to satisfy requirements for three months,” he informed.

“Oil accounts for over 44% of Pakistan’s energy needs where we rely on 18 million tons of crude and petroleum products imported from Middle East,” he remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2015.

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