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 Rs31.5-32 per litre increase in petrol price with effective from July 1.

'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 July 1, there will be Rs 31.5-32 per litre increase. We found a way out and decided to expand the duration from 30 days to 35 days, as the taxes were already fixed,' he added.

On May 18, he said, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) purchased oil cargo at the rate of $21.7 per barrel, which increased to $31.27 per barrel on May 28 and reached $44.54 on June 20. During that period prices had increased by more than double, he added.

After the increase, he said, the petrol price was at around 100 per litre in Pakistan, while it was Rs 180 per litre in India, Rs 137 in China, Rs 174 in Bangladesh, Rs 108 in Indonesia, Rs 153 in Philippine, Rs 159 in Thailand and Rs 196 in Japan.

Before February 28, he said petrol rate was Rs116.60 per litre and diesel Rs127.26 per liter, adding by June 1 these were brought down by Rs 42 and Rs 47 per litre respectively.

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 Oil and Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to take action such OMCS and enforce their laws in that regard in letter and spirit.

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.

Nadeem Babar said there were around 9,000 registered petrol pumps in the country, while 15,000 were illegal which had been identified during the recent inspections. The illegal pumps were being shut down or sealed, he added.

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 Asianet-Pakistan