August 14, 2002	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Saani 4, 1423

KARACHI, Aug 13: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has won the first ever international tender for fuel oil, floated by the Wapda, under which the company will supply two loads of 55,000 tons of oil each.

The first cargo is scheduled to be delivered by September 2-4 followed by delivery of second one between September 25-27, says a press release of the PSO, issued on Tuesday.

PSO had quoted the premium price of $12.95 and $13.10 for the two cargoes, which was the lowest as compared to major international traders like Glencore and regional traders Fal and Bakri.

PSO has been supplying fuel oil to Wapda for the past several years when the prices were controlled by the government. Later, when fuel oil was deregulated by the government, Wapda started purchasing through local traders.

The government had deregulated the import of fuel oil from July 1, 2000 for the oil marketing companies (OMCs) and other major consumers like the KESC and Wapda. The power utility has become the first independent consumer to import fuel oil.

On July 29, PSO had entered into an agreement with Wapda for handling and storage of fuel oil thus facilitating the authority to arrange a portion of its annual requirement through direct imports. PSO would store the product in its storage tanks for onward transportation to its power stations located at Jamshoro, Guddu, Muzaffargarh, Faisalabad and Multan.

Under the agreement, the authority would pay an agreed hospitality charge to the PSO.