KARACHI: A shortfall of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) is anticipated in the coming days as a result of insufficient imports and restricted local supply. The oil industry has informed the government of this problem. A letter describing the scarcity was addressed to the regulator Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) by the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), an organisation that represents the oil industry.
The Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) were given permission to import motor spirit/petrol and HSD in accordance with their demand in the product availability review of products for the month of November 2022, the OCAC stated. This decision followed considerable consideration.
A shortage of 210,000 MT of HSD and 147,000 MT of gasoline was calculated during the product review. Due to restricted supply on the global market and extremely expensive premiums, it was noted at the meeting that HSD imports in November would be difficult. As a result, only PSO has so far reserved supplies from Flow Petroleum of 220,000 MT and 10,000 MT.
Alarmingly, though, fuel import that corresponds to the expected sales volume and stock cover has also not been scheduled. According to the OCAC letter, the importers were supposed to finalise the import plan, but as of now, there is a gap in the import plan.
The conference with representatives from the industry held on November 1 also brought up this crucial issue, but no clear guarantees have been obtained in writing from the importing OMCs, it stated.A few OMCs have been consistently maintaining low stock levels since October 2022 since their sales for October were more than they had anticipated.
