March 20, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 16, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 19: Current reserves of petrol and diesel in the country are enough to meet local demand for over three months in case the supply of fuel is suspended due to the US-threatened attack on Iraq, Petroleum Minister Nauraiz Shakoor said.

The minister told reporters at the National Assembly on Wednesday that the petroleum industry will be hit severely if the United States attacked Iraq and the prices of petroleum products will shoot up in the international market.

If international markets increase petrol prices, Pakistan, being a global partner of the petroleum market, will be compelled to follow suit, he said.

However, he claimed that the prices of gas will remain stable in the event of a war.

He said Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were catering to Pakistan’s petroleum needs, and in case of a war, the supply of fuel could be suspended from these countries.

However, alternative arrangements of fuel supply from Iran have been made, he said. “We have made a comprehensive emergency plan to ensure running of all local industries in the event of a petroleum crisis,” he said.

Mr Shakoor said the country had 765 million barrels of reserves of recoverable oil. Of this, 465 million barrels had been recovered and the remaining 300 million barrels were yet to be recovered.

He said the use of gas will obviously be increased if shortage of petroleum products occurred.