PSO's dues soar to Rs 335 billion

Outstanding dues of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have gone up to Rs 335 billion due to default of power sector in payments of Rs 283 billion. The government differential claims and PIA have also defaulted on Rs 26 billion respectively.
The receivables of PSO have now alarmingly increased and the government is aware of the appalling situation. The power sector was needed to pay Rs 283 billion to PSO as of March 28, 2018 in the head of furnace oil and diesel used for power generation. The government has now banned the import of furnace oil and diesel for power generation. Public sector power generation companies (GENCOs) are to pay Rs 152.6 billion to PSO, Hubco owes it Rs 84.9 billion, and Kapco Rs 41.9 billion.
The PSO as of March 2018 is required to pay Rs 11.7 billion to refineries and Rs 69 billion under the head of honoring the letter of credit for import of petroleum products from Kuwait Petroleum Company and stand-by letter of credits (SBLCs) for import of LNG (Rs 26 billion).
According to officials, PSO has been constantly following up with ministries concerned for early settlement of its outstanding receivables from power sector. The PSO has also submitted various proposals for early settlement of circular debt.
Meanwhile, PSO is also following up with PIA for recovery of its overdue balances and regular meetings are being held with PIA officials.
During the first half of financial year 2017-18, the market share of white oil stood at 45.7 percent while market share of black oil dropped to 73 percent from 73.4 percent over the same period last year. PSO's overall market share in liquid fuel market was 55 percent in this period as compared to 56 percent in the corresponding period of financial year 2016-17.
The company continued to deliver healthy volumes in all the businesses except furnace oil that declined due to shift of power plants to LNG from November 2017. The shift is a positive game changer in the country energy mix. The PSO imported 69 percent of industry imports while local refinery upliftment improved to 39 percent, up 9 percent over the same period last year.