KARACHI: To avoid blackout in Karachi, the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) arranged for 3000 tons of furnace oil for KESC from its critical reserve stocks after receiving a cheque of Rs 210 million. According to a press release issued here on Sunday, the company arranged product of the aforementioned volume from its critical stock reserves.
PSO had supplied 80,000 tons oil to KESC in April. The KESC's normal credit line as per fuel supply agreement (FSA) was of 33,000 tons. But considering gas load shedding, PSO enhanced the credit line to Rs 5 billion. Other than the 80,000 tons already supplied, PSO provided KESC additional 5,000 tons oil against payment of Rs 350 million, received on Friday evening. The supplies of 5,000 tons oil were made on Friday and Saturday in 2 batches of 2,500 tons per day. Another 3,000 tons was to be pumped to KESC on Sunday night.
PSO has repeatedly informed KESC of its limitations in respect of supplies of additional volumes. The national company has the responsibility of effectively distributing the furnace oil stocks nation-wide as per demand forecast of all power entities. However, PSO had reached critical stocks' level only due to pumping of additional furnace oil to KESC in April.
This additional demand of 60,000 tons in April by KESC, other than the normal fuel supply agreement of 33,000 tons/month was unexpected and not part of PSO's import plan. Due to the rising circular debt, resulting in refineries not providing furnace oil to PSO, the company is totally dependent on imports/international consignments. With all its product limitations, PSO, being a responsible company, has operated round the clock to meet the energy demands of Karachi, the hub of economic activity of the country, resulting in depletion of its stocks to an alarming level.
After meeting the 'unplanned' demand of KESC, PSO is struggling with its limited stocks to meet the daunting energy needs of the entire country.-PR
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