Shortage of petrol witnessed on third day of Eid in Lahore

Several areas of Lahore continued to face the shortage of petrol and diesel on the second and third day of Eid.
Petrol was not available at pumps in the areas of Baghbanpura, Wassanpura, GT Road, and Bund Road. While situation of availability of petrol in the areas of Mall Road, Jail Road, Model Town, Johar Town and Defense is much better as compared to North Lahore.
Khawaja Atif office bearer of Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association told Business Recorder that 2015 like situation may arises in the country when due to global drop in oil prices the shortage of fuel in Punjab had literally brought daily life to a standstill, with people having to queue for hours for petrol and CNG.
He stressed his hope that situation should start improving from June 10. He also said that global drop in oil prices should have been a boon for consumers but producers are unhappy to see falling profits. He said that there has been a surge in domestic demand, as well due to Eid holidays.
In Punjab, petrol pumps of private owned companies have been keeping far less than the legally required 20 days' worth of fuel in their inventories as they expected prices to drop further, resulting in a particularly fragile supply chain.
He said as a result of which there is a lot of pressure on the pumps taking supply from the government-owned Pakistan State Oil. He also said that refineries and oil marketing companies have reduced the diesel quota by 60 percent.
According to the statement issued by the state-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO) company has ample stock available of fuel and that there is no need for people to panic.
"We have sufficient stocks available and there is absolutely no issue of fuel supply,"
The company is ensuring uninterrupted supply to all pumps. The company is taking petroleum products from local refineries as per quota. In Lahore several owners closed their petrol pumps by erecting barricades. A great rush was witnessed at petrol pumps which were opened. Goods transporters are also facing problems due to shortage of petrol and diesel.