Ministry of Petroleum has held Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) responsible for the recent petrol shortage crisis, alleging that the latter failed to take timely action against hoarders and black marketers.
Sources revealed to the Business Recorder that Petroleum Ministry advised Ogra on Monday last to perform its role of regulator and ensure availability of petrol by taking action against hoarders and black marketers but Ogra did nothing except sending show cause notices to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
"At present, teams of senior officials of Ministry of Petroleum are inspecting the retail outlets of petroleum products to check the availability of petrol," sources said, adding that Petroleum Ministry was forced to play the role of regulator due to Ogra's inability to perform its role.
"Despite good salaries, with Member Ogra drawing Rs 0.12 million per month and Ogra's executive director Rs 0.4 million per month, the Authority failed to perform its due role," sources said, adding that due to shortage of petrol, dealers hoarded the product and made windfall profits.
Sources said that the Ministry of Petroleum has made arrangements to expedite the supply of petrol to upcountry areas from Karachi refineries as well as through imports (97,000 metric tons petrol was imported in August and 120,000 metric tons in September 2010). And all modes of transportation is being used including road movement.
Local refineries including National Refinery Ltd, Pakistan Refinery Ltd, Byco Refinery, Karachi and Attock Refinery Ltd, have been operating at maximum capacity and have supplied 60,000 metric tons of petrol in a month. Stocks of about 90,000 metric tons of petrol are available in the country which is sufficient to meet about 18 days' requirements.
PARCO Mid Country Refinery has restarted its operation and supply has resumed. The local refineries are producing about 4,000 tons of petrol per day. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources is continuously monitoring and is in contact with all the OMCs/refineries to restore petrol supply.
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