ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik on Thursday said that there is no risk of a shortage of petroleum products as the country has “record-high” petrol and diesel reserves while imports of POL products between June 2021 and June 2022 reduced by around nine per cent.
Malik was speaking during a press conference alongside Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir which was held in Islamabad.
The petroleum minister said that the country’s import bill has reduced significantly while the petroleum division has been making efforts on a daily basis to bring further improvement in reducing the import bill. “We are not allowing unnecessary imports in order to reduce the import bill of the country”.
He reiterated that there is no risk of petroleum shortage as fuel reserves are at record levels, adding that the government has prepared a policy for imports.
Meanwhile, owing to less demand, he added that consumption of petroleum products has reduced by 9 per cent on YoY basis from 778,000 tonnes in June 2021 to 702,000 tonnes in June 2022. “Similarly, the consumption of diesel also decreased by 8 pc during the same period, from 776,000 tonnes in June 2021 to 713,000 tonnes in June 2022,” he said.
During the first 20 days of the current month, the minister said that consumption of petrol reduced by 30pc YoY and it is expected to be around 580,000 tonnes by the end of the month against 880,000 tonnes consumed in July 2021 whereas the consumption of diesel has witnessed a reduction of 45-50pc.”Total consumption is likely to be around 400,000 tonnes if compared to 720,000 tonnes of the previous fiscal year”.
Speaking on the occasion, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir said that the incumbent coalition government was working hard to stabilise the country’s economy and protect the countrymen from the effects of ongoing global energy crisis.
He said that inflows and outflows of foreign exchange are now balanced while circular debt has decreased by Rs214 billion over the last three months because the government took certain measures to stabilise the economy. He claimed that inflation will start decreasing from September or October.
The energy minister also informed the media that after power tariff rebasing, subsidies will be provided to protected categories of power consumers in order to save them from tariff hikes. On the other hand, he said that an attractive solar policy would be announced at the start of August in order to provide relief to the salaried and middle class.
Moreover, other measures the government will be taking include reduced reliance on imported fuels with the introduction of a new solar policy, an export tariff for gas and electricity and a coal venture between Pakistan and the Afghan authorities for which Dastgir informed talks were underway and if it is materialised resulting in a supply chain then trade with central Asian countries may start.
