PSO to Keep its Fuel Stations Open During Nationwide Strike

The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has announced a countrywide strike for an indefinite period, starting from Thursday, 25 November, in the interest of obtaining a profit margin increase. Regardless, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has announced that all of its Company-Owned-Company-Operated (COCO) filling stations will remain operational from 25 November onward while all the other private petroleum dealers will go on strike. The oil marketing company (OMC) released the following statement in this regard: Overall, the PSO has 23 COCO filling stations that are distributed sparsely across a select few cities in Pakistan. It has one fuel station in Faisalabad, one in Hyderabad, two in Multan, one in Quetta, five in Rawalpindi, four in Peshawar, two in Sukkur, and seven in Karachi, as per its official website. A proposal recommending an increase in the profit margins for petroleum dealers was reportedly presented to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) yesterday. However, the next session of the ECC is not scheduled to commence in the near future as the federal Minister for the Economic Affairs Division, Omer Ayub Khan, who also chairs the ECC sessions, is out of the country. This implies that the PPDA will continue with the nationwide strike, which will trouble the public with the unavailability of fuel in the coming days. Conversely, the strike is a blessing in disguise for PSO as it will work under a monopolistic condition while Pakistan’s numerous private petrol stations will remain closed for the foreseeable future.