KARACHI: President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo has said that imposing fines and blocking NOCs for retail outlets are creating a discouraging environment for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and FPCCI has been approached by their representatives to make their voices heard.

Expressing concern over what he called unfair’ practices and treatment to smaller OMCs, he said that smooth functioning of the OMCs is indispensable for any economy, and continuing investments in mid-stream and down-stream sectors are as eminent. Nasser Hyatt Maggo was dismayed over the fact that investigations and enquiries are still continuing over June 2020 petrol crisis and are keeping the OMCs unnecessarily occupied with regulatory tangles. He added that if any wrongdoing was established on the basis of inquiry report, the culprits should have been punished by now; instead of continuing with the inquiry incessantly.

He said that Pakistan’s mid-stream and down-stream sectors need huge investments in order to increase refinery capacities and modernize their end-products to minimize carbon emissions.

He added that major part of these investments will come as FDI coupled with technology transfer, adding harassment of the OMCs are proving to be detrimental in this regard. He also raised the issue of profit margins for the OMCs and questioned that when ECC decided back in 2014 that profit margins of the OMCs will be based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), why profit margins are not being revised in a timely fashion. This practice will prove discouraging to new investors in the industry, he added.

He added that FPCCI is ready to help resolve the issues between the OMCs and the government bodies through dialogue and discussion. He emphasized that it is in the larger national interest to encourage investments into oil industry and investors should be treated with dignity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021