Petrol shortage continues despite PM notice

LAHORE : People said that the situation regarding shortage of petrol remained the same even after Prime Minister took notice of the situation. Country has been facing shortage of petrol and is nowhere to be found at pumps of private oil marketing companies. However, Petrol has been available at PSO pumps but people have to wait in long queues in order to buy petrol. According to details, petrol is scarce and people have to travel mostly on foot due to its non-availability. They have expressed their displeasure and said that when petrol was expensive there was no shortage but ever since petrol price was reduced, it became scarce. Most petrol pumps remained open in Karachi but regular grade petrol was not available and citizens were forced to buy expensive high octane fuel instead. People in Peshawar also wandered in search of petrol and long queues could be seen at government run petrol stations. Citizens have demanded that the licenses of petrol stations and companies involved in creating artificial shortage, be revoked. Meanwhile, Dunya News has brought to light the causes of petrol crisis in the country. Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and the Ministry of Petroleum caused the crisis. When DG Oil hinted at an increase in petrol prices, the companies showed their mettle. On April 6, the Ministry of Petroleum wrote a letter to OGRA and acknowledged that the oil companies did not have stock. On Monday, PSO revealed that companies were not stockpiling more than three days of stock due to possible fall in oil prices. In a letter to OGRA on June 1, DG Oil expressed concern that the prices of petroleum products are likely to go up from July 1. Companies could cut oil supplies to make a profit and after the news came out there has been a shortage of petrol. On June 3, OGRA wrote another letter to the Petroleum Secretary informing him of the shortage of oil in several areas but the tide had turned. And on June 4, the country s oil reserves were declared satisfactory, but the people still unable to find petrol at petrol stations.