Ogra refutes reports of petrol, diesel shortage in Pakistan

KARACHI: Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Tuesday denied reports of shortage of diesel and petrol in the country, saying that sufficient stocks were available.

“Sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel are available across the country,” OGRA spokesman Imran Ghaznavi clarified in a press statement.

He said the country had sufficient petrol and diesel stocks for meeting the needs of 18 and 37 days respectively.

“Furthermore, ships carrying 101,000MT [Metric Ton] petrol is at berth/outer anchorage,” the spokesman added.

Imran Ghzanavi said the local refineries were playing their due role in meeting the demand for petroleum products.

The development comes after Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) had asked the federal government to immediately intervene to ensure the timely issuance of letters of credit to import petroleum products to avoid a fuel shortage in the country.

The Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) wrote a letter on behalf of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and refineries highlighting challenges being faced due to delays in the opening of letters of credit (LCs) for the import of petroleum products.

“If LCs are not established on a timely basis, critical imports of petroleum products would be impacted which may lead to fuel shortage in the country. It may be noted that if the supply chain is compromised, it may take six to eight weeks to normalise,” OCAC said in the letter.