September 16, 2003	Tuesday	Rajab 18, 1424

ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: Shell Pakistan said on Monday that smuggling of oil products from Iran into the southwestern Balochistan province was hurting business and compelling it to “reassess” its retail network there.

“We will have to reassess our network in those areas where smuggling is going on,” Farooq Rahmatullah, chairman of Shell Pakistan, the country’s second largest oil marketing company, told reporters.

Rahmatullah did not say how many outlets the company was planning to close in Balochistan, where the country’s largest oil marketing company Pakistan State Oil has also shut down filling stations.

He said that Shell’s business in Baluchistan had already been dented by the smuggling, but he could not specify the number of outlets closed.—Reuters