No fear of fuel shortage in country: OCAC

KARACHI: Country has ample stock of motor gasoline (mogas) and there is no fear of shortage of fuel as a consignment of 90,000 tons of mogas is arriving this week, Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Total mogas stocks stand at over 240,000 tons and depots all over the country have enough reserves. Moreover, supplies are continuously moving to different parts of the country from Karachi,” the statement added.

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has sufficient stocks of fuel - 86,000 tons - which is enough to meet the requirements for the next 15 days.

PSO clarifies that there is no mogas shortage expected in the country following a mogas vessel that got rejected in the initial test conducted by Hydro Carbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP).

A cargo ship containing 50,000MTs of mogas/petrol was imported via international tender. The shipment was imported via Emirates National Oil Cargo (ENOC) of UAE. All shipments are inspected for quality assurance before offloading, which is performed by PSO and HDIP both. HDIP is a government owned organisation and performs third party testing.

After the inspection, the product was found to be substandard. The distillation point of the product was found to be 207 degree against the standard mark of 205 degree. Based on the results of the testing, offloading was not performed. However, as per the terms and conditions of the contract, the product is being tested again and results are expected by tomorrow evening.

The final decision is subject to the result of the second inspection. PSO will not bear any financial losses in case the cargo is rejected. As per the terms and conditions of the contract, supplier will ensure availability of the second cargo within three weeks.