The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association of Pakistan has urged Federal Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to ensure complete transparency in the re-allocation of fuel quota by the Pak-Arab Refinery Company, saying all allocations should be made through open tender system.
In a statement Association Chairman Farooq Iftikhar said that all marketing companies approved by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority should be given equal opportunities to participate in the Pak-Arab Refinery Company bids for the fuel. "At present the Pak-Arab Refinery Company is producing 450 to 500 million tones of the fuel per day which is allocated to 16 marketing companies only. The allocation agreement has since expired but instead of calling open tenders, the Pak-Arab Refinery Company management is quietly trying to strike a deal in the next couple of days," Iftikhar said.
"There are 94 marketing companies working across the country but the Pak-Arab Refinery Company is re-allocating the fuel to only 16 marketing companies through negotiations," he added. He further said the marketing companies should be provided a level playing field through open tender system since the present policy of the Pak-Arab Refinery Company's management, majority of the marketing companies are left with no choice but to sell imported fuel.
"The Ministry of Petroleum should look into the matters of the Pak-Arab Refinery Company and make sure its management to call open tenders for the fuel as it was done in the case of the fuel allocations of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and other producers," he added.
He then urged the government to lower the present high selling price of locally produce fuel and help its own efforts in the economic uplift by providing cheap fuel and that the locally produced fuel, presently being sold by the producers at higher than the CP price, was injuring the economy since the imported low quality gas was making its way into the country in a big way, thus harming the local producers and the national exchequer.