KARACHI: A petrol crisis, which has already kept everyday life paralysed in Punjab for about a week, is feared to hit Karachi and other parts of Sindh amid reports of a short supply by oil marketing companies that triggered a panic sale on Monday, officials and dealers said.

Long queues of motorists were seen outside a few fuel stations amid speculation and reports of a feared petroleum crisis.

With public transport gradually off the road, a number of fuel stations were closed well before sunset after consuming their fuel stock.

“The crisis is very much feared,” said Abdul Sami Khan of the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association when asked about the authenticity of the reports that triggered panic buying of petrol by motorists.

He said that some 1,800 petrol pumps catered to the needs of vehicle owners in Sindh and 700 of them were in Karachi alone. He said that the petrol supply in the city was cut by half on Monday apparently to cater to the needs of Punjab.

Shabbir Suleman of the All Pakistan CNG and Petroleum Dealers had data to reflect concerns of the petroleum dealers.

“The Pakistan State Oil’s daily supply stands at around 600,00 litres across Sindh,” he said. “If you collectively see the daily supply to Sindh petrol pumps then it stands at around 1.7 million litres, which has definitely declined after the crisis in Punjab. I can safely say that 60 per cent of the total Sindh supply is consumed by Karachi.”

The oil marketing companies, however, sounded confident and denied any cut in the supply to Karachi.

They blamed petroleum dealers for creating too much hype, which triggered panic among the consumers.

They ruled out any petrol crisis hitting Karachi and other Sindh cities.

“I don’t foresee any such situation in Karachi or any other Sindh city,” said Ilyas Fazil, the secretary general of the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) — an umbrella organisation representing oil refineries and marketing companies. “It’s true that oil marketing companies are dispatching their product to Punjab and they have increased the supply but not at the expense of Karachi or any other Sindh city. If dealers or petrol pump owners are making such a claim, I don’t second their statement.”

However, long queues of motorists outside fuel stations across the city and closure of several petrol pumps did not square with the OCAC’s claim that there was no such crisis in Karachi or Sindh.

“The supply remained suspended on Sunday due to the weekly holiday,” said Abdul Sami Khan of the PPDA. “Then from Monday the supply has been cut by 50 per cent apparently to overcome the crisis in Punjab. If the trend continues I fear the situation would not be too different [from Punjab] here in Sindh.”

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2015

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