Justifying the revision of petroleum prices four-day before the schedule for the month of July, SAPM Nadeem Babar said if the price of oil cargoes, arriving in next days, was calculated based on today's exchange rate, there was a projection of
'We did not want to make such an increase, so we went to the prime minister and finance minister and apprised them if the prices were revised with effect from
On
After the increase, he said, the petrol price was at around 100 per litre in
Before
Commenting on the recent fuel shortage, the SAPM said Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) were required to maintain 21-day stocks as per their licence condition, but almost all the companies were found short of the stock during the inspection.
He said the Petroleum Division had been asking
Simultaneously, he said the PSO was directed to do additional fuel buying as other OMCs were not maintaining their stocks, which gave the PSO 15 percent additional share in market during the current month as compared to corresponding period of last year. 'PSO made 78 percent additional import.'
He underlined the need for strengthening OGRA by increasing its enforcement capabilities so that prompt action could be taken against all those who violated their licence conditions, adding necessary reforms would be introduced in rules and laws of the authority in that regard.
He said a system was also being worked out to collect and maintain sales data of OMC depots and Petrol pumps on daily basis.
During the inspection, he said it was also observed that oil depots' sale witnessed 52 percent increase in first ten days of current month as compared to same period of last year. The increased sale was definitely hoarded somewhere like illegal petrol pumps or depots, he added.
He said the government had sought lists of petroleum pumps from all OMCs so that it could be put in the record that which fuel station were operating on their network.
© Pakistan Press International, source