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June 14, 2008
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Saturday
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Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1429
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OCAC, dealers lock horns on petrol shortage
By Aamir Shafaat Khan
KARACHI, June 13: Petrol pump dealers have started clamouring about petrol shortage ahead of fortnight price revision on Sunday.
In some areas, pump owners suspended the petrol sales as the dealers said they were getting low supplies from the oil marketing companies (OMCs).
On Thursday, two petrol pumps near Aisha Manzil in FB Area suspended sales for the day saying they did not get the supply from the Pakistan State Oil (PSO). This is the second time in the current fortnight that these pump owners had suspended sales. However, there is no problem with diesel.
A PSO pump dealer in Pak Colony said that the pump was getting low supplies and they had to manage petrol from other sources. A PSO official, who asked not to be named, said that there was no problem of supplies, which had been normal during the current fortnight.
He said that the PSO had introduced rationing system in petrol supplies to the dealers to ensure average supply to the dealers based on the 30 days of delivery schedule.
He added that the company had been discouraging the hoarding tactics of the pump dealers, who had demanded higher quantities to make windfalls. A PSO team has been actively monitoring the pumps in order to avoid any problems to the consumers.
Oil Companies Advisory Committee secretary general M. Ilyas Fazil told Dawn on Friday that all the OMCs continued to supply requisite volumes to the market in the last 13 days of the current fortnight so there is no question of any shortage.
Average supplies per day for petrol and diesel by the OMCs have been targeted as per the estimated demand of around 4,000 tons/day and 28,000 tons per day for petrol and diesel, respectively, he added.
Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association chairman Abdul Sami Khan reiterated that the supply of petrol by the OMCs to the pumps had been 50 per cent low then the required demand.
He said that the OCAC secretary general is putting the blame on the dealers instead of OMCs for creating shortage.
Mr. Sami said that the shortage problem in Punjab and the interior Sindh was severe than Karachi.
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