PSO clarifies about fuel reserves of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan State Oil (PSO) spokesperson on Friday denied all the rumours about the shortage of fuel reserves and said that there is ample stock of petroleum products in the country, ARY News reported.

According to PSO’s spokesperson, the Ministry of Energy and Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) is monitoring the overall situation regarding product availability by other oil marketing companies so that the country’s supply chain continues to be maintained seamlessly.

He said that PSO will continue to provide an uninterrupted supply of petroleum products in the country, there is sufficient stock of petrol and diesel in the country available, while 80,000MT of petrol and 90,000MT of diesel have reached Karachi port.

The spokesman OGRA said that local refineries and oil marketing companies are also working to meet the demand for petroleum products.

Last week, the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) 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.

Due to the non-opening of the LCs, few oil cargos have been cancelled.

Pakistan needs to import approximately 430,000 metric tonnes ( MTs) of mogas, 200,000 MTs of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) and 650,000 MTs of crude oil every month, which costs around $1.3 billion.