ISLAMABAD: The All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA) on Saturday decided to go on strike from Monday after negotiations with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) failed.

Meanwhile, seeking to defuse the situation, the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) has called a meeting of all stakeholders on Monday.

On Thursday, negotiations between Ogra and APOTOA failed to yield any result as both sides refused to budge from their positions over implementation of high safety standards.

Energy ministry will hold a meeting of stakeholders on Monday

The oil tankers’ owners maintain the new standards are too high and expensive to be implemented in Pakistan, keeping in view the conditions of the roads as well.

“Our negotiations resulted in a deadlock. After that we had consultations within the trade with all stakeholders — including tanker owners, drivers, etc — and it was decided that we will go on strike from Monday,” said APOTOA General Secretary Raja Saeed.

All oil tankers operating in the country have been approved by the oil marketing companies and the new standards should be accompanied with revised freight rates along with redressing of other issues faced by the oil tankers, Mr Saeed said.

On the other hand, Ogra has said that overnight change cannot be expected in the field but reasonable demands of oil tankers can be discussed.

“Ogra maintains that the oil tankers associations should abide with the minimum safety standards to protect human lives,” Ogra spokesman Imran Ghaznavi said.

The Aug 21 meeting will be chaired by Secretary Petroleum and will have participation from Ogra Chairperson Uzma Adil and various associations of oil tankers.

Meanwhile, the station owners are confident that the situation would be brought under control by the authorities and cautioned consumers against panic buying.

“The oil companies are booking our demands, and there is enough petrol and diesel at the pumps. The massive rush that is triggered after the announcement of strike by tankers will dry off all the fuel by Sunday night,” said All Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (Punjab) President Chaudhary Zafar Elahi.

There are two categories of oil tankers: those with improved and large vehicles that bring petrol from refineries and the port to various depots across the country; and those that supply petrol and diesel from depots to pumps in cities, towns and on the highways.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2017