POL shortage persists across the country

Petroleum products shortage persisted in the country after petrol has become scarce at most petrol pumps in many cities of the country, which is causing severe hardships to the citizens as well as to the transporters.

Due to non-supply from within the country, most of the petrol pumps in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, and other cities have been closed and those who have petrol available have jacked up their prices.

As per details, Karachi has also been facing a shortage of petrol for the last three days and petrol is not available at most petrol pumps in the city while citizens are being forced to fetch expensive high octane at the pumps.

Similarly, petrol has not been supplied to Balochistan from within the country due to which petrol is not available at most of the petrol pumps in Quetta. Besides, there are complaints of a shortage of petrol in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where petrol has become scarce in Bannu region, including Peshawar city.

It may be mentioned that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Wednesday found six mega Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) involved in prevailing shortage of petroleum products across the country. It suggested the Petroleum Division to call an urgent product review meeting (PRM) to review integrated system like stock, import and local production.

Spokesman Ogra Imran Ghaznavi alleged that six OMCs - the Attock Petroleum Limited (APL), Shell Pakistan Limited, Total Parco Pakistan Ltd, Hascol Petroleum Ltd, Gas and Oil Pakistan, and Puma Energy (Private) Ltd - were involved in shortage of petrol across the country out of 33 OMCs, and issued show causes notices to them. The authority has sought a reply within 24 hours.