ISLAMABAD: Due to limited imports and finite local availability, Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) on Monday warned the federal government about the possible shortage of petrol and High Speed Diesel (HSD) in the coming days.
The OCAC wrote to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) that the shortfall is due to the limited supply and high premiums on fuel stocks in the international market.
Therefore, it may be difficult to import diesel in November. So far, only state-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO), has reserved shipments of 220,000 metric tons and 10,000 metric tons from Flow Petroleum.
According to the letter, import of petrol required to meet needs and match expected sales volume has not been scheduled.
The importers were supposed to finalize the import plan, but as of now, there is a gap in the import plan, the letter read.
In addition to that, few OMCs recorded sales for October higher than their expected demand since they had limited stocks of fuel products.
They received fuel shipments in the last week of October which they were due to use for the entirety of October.
The letter said that the OMCs who were permitted to import goods the month before for use in the following month had already used the shipments in advance.
Late last week, the ECC approved to increase the margin of oil companies by 63% which shall be subject to the financial capacity and prior approval of the Ministry of Finance.
The OMC margin on petrol has been increased from Rs3.68 to Rs6 per litre. Whereas, margin on diesel has also been approved to increase from Rs3.68 to Rs6 per litre.
