Petroleum dealers on Friday decided to defer a nationwide strike they initially planned to begin tomorrow for two more days after a meeting with Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik, saying an agreement had been reached for an upward revision of their profit margin.

On Thursday, fuel station operators had announced a strike for an indefinite period starting tomorrow, demanding their profit margin to be more than doubled to five per cent from the current level of 2.4pc.

“Petrol stations will remain closed until our demands are met,” Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Information Secretary Noman Ali Butt had told Dawn.com.

Separately in a press release, the association said interest rates and inflation had hit operators’ businesses and called for the dealership margin to be increased.

The PPDA, which says it has more than 10,000 members, added that sales had slumped by 30 per cent due to Iranian fuel being smuggled into the country.

“We had an agreement in 1999 that we will receive a five pc profit margin which was decreased to four pc in 2004,” the press release read, adding that the incumbent government had then changed the profit margin to Rs6 per litre, which left them with approximately 2.4 pc profit margin, and was not acceptable to the petroleum dealers.

“They told us that the profit margin will be deliberated upon later but then due to an increase in electricity, utilities, labour and the Kibor rate, the profit of small petrol pumps completely vanished,” the press release stated.

“We approached state minister Musadik Malik and published our appeals in all the main newspapers. He promised us to visit in Karachi and that’s why we did not take any major step but he did not visit,” it added.

Later, PPDA Chairman Abdul Sami Khan said in another statement that the minister of state for petroleum had called him and they would be meeting at 4pm today.

After the meeting, the association issued yet another statement, bearing the signatures of the minister, the PPDA chairman and Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Chairman Masroor Khan.

The statement, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, read: “Based on the discussion, it was agreed that there should be an upward reasonable revision in dealer’s margin. The increased margins will [be] ascertain[ed] based on actual data acceptable to all concerned stakeholders. This revised margin number will be announced within the next forty-eight hours i.e. on Monday, July 24, 2023.

“In view of this understanding the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association strike is deferred till Monday, July 24, 2023.”