Energy Minister Opens Up on Reports of Shortage of Petroleum Products

Federal Minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar, clarified, on Friday, that there was no risk of a shortage of petroleum products in the country. “Contrary to some media reports, there is no risk of shortage of POL products. Pakistan has stocks of 27 days for diesel and 28 days for petrol consumption in the country. This is the highest stock level since last many years,” Hammad Azhar said on Twitter. Explaining the non-lifting of furnace oil from power plants, the minister said that it was because the furnace oil-based power plants had not run in November or December [till now] as per merit order. “However, they are required to keep stocks of FO, for which the power division is coordinating with them,” he added. The minister’s clarification comes in response to some news reports that warned against another crisis of petroleum products in the country, as the Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), which has the capacity to refine 55,000 barrels per day of crude oil, closed its operations in the wake of the non-availability of storage capacity. The publications quoted an official statement from PRL, in which the refinery blamed the “bad governance” of the incumbent government for the current situation. “All the refineries, including PARCO, BYCO, NRL, ARL, PRL, and OCAC (Oil Companies Advisory Council), have been sensitizing the Petroleum Division since long, alerting of the POL products’ availability crisis because of non-lifting of furnace oil from their storages. However, the IPPs and PSO, which were issued Rs. 30 billion by the Power Division, have not lifted the furnace oil, putting a big question on the governance of the government,” the PRL statement said. It warned that while some of the refineries had already shut down, others might as well close their operations next week due to the shortage of storage space. “In another development, the Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) has started closing down its operation, and to this effect, it, on Thursday, shut down its one unit having the capacity to refine 5,000 barrels per day of crude oil because of non-lifting of furnace oil,” it added.