by AMER SIAL
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has restricted 13 oil marketing companies (OMCs) from expanding their retail outlet network (petrol pumps) without fulfilling the mandatory requirement of having 20 days oil storage.
It is important to mention that in the decline in motor spirit (petrol) prices coupled with decline in compressed natural gas (CNG) availability and an increase in vehicular traffic have led to a record 480 percent increase in petrol consumption during the last eight years, resulting in diminishing of the mandatory limit of petrol storage from 20 days to 14 days.
The OGRA wants OMCs to take steps to meet the mandatory oil storage limit.
An official source said the domestic petrol consumption is increasing at an amazing rate of 20 percent per annum. The petrol consumption was estimated at 125,000 tonnes per month during 2008 and it has increased to 600,000 tonnes per month in 2016. It has simply outdated the storage capacity fixed for the OMCs. This situation is only witnessed in the motor gasoline category, while the consumption pattern of
This situation is only witnessed in the motor gasoline category, while the consumption pattern of high-speed diesel (HSD) and furnace oil remain on a steady path.
The HSD consumption has gradually increased as overall economic activity in the country has remained dull during the last eight years.
The regulator, OGRA, is yet to enhance the motor spirit storage limit, but it has asked OMCs and refineries to take measures to smoothen the petrol supplies, the sources said, adding that developing additional storage was a cumbersome job considering the number of permissions required for carrying out the work.
