Govt allows non-compliant oil tankers to operate for another year

KARACHI: The government has agreed to restore the status of hundreds of oil tankers that were de-listed by the state-owned oil company for not meeting safety standards, giving them a one-year grace period to comply, according to a document seen by The News on Monday.

The decision was made after a meeting between the Ministry of Energy and the Oil Tankers Contractors Association (OTCA), which represents the owners and drivers of the tankers that transport petroleum products across the country.

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) had recently de-listed around 750 tank lorries, which fall under the non-compliant vehicles. "PSO will approach Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to allow restoration of delisted non-compliant vehicles for one year period," the document stated.

During the meeting, the president of OCTA had demanded a two-year time frame for conversion or de-listing of such vehicles in view of the current inflationary trend and the hard choices facing the people involved.

He also urged the government to fix the pipeline share of petrol transport at a level that does not affect transporters' livelihood.

"Due to declining demand and increasing movement of petrol through pipelines, contractors are not getting enough load to earn their bread and butter," he said. The carriage contractors also demanded a revision of the road transport tariff, saying that the current rates are not sufficient to cover their increasing costs of doing business.

"We have approached the OGRA for a tariff revision, but the matter was still unresolved." The government agreed to maintain the pipeline share at 45 percent of the up-country volumes for a one-year period and asked OGRA to review and potentially revise freight rates considering the current inflationary situation in the country, the document stated.

The meeting decided that PSO would approach OGRA to allow the restoration of de-listed non-compliant vehicles for a one-year period. In addition, the meeting agreed that the pipeline share in Mogas transportation would be maintained at 45 percent of the up-country volumes for a one-year period.

The meeting also decided that OGRA would review and potentially revise the road transport freight rates, considering the current inflationary situation in the country. The road transport freight is revised after every two years and the last revision was made one year ago.

In order to finalize this, OCTA will designate a focal person for coordination in the matter. The OCTA focal person will also prepare a detailed document outlining secondary freight issues/concerns to mitigate inefficiencies in the system and submit it to OGRA for consideration.

Last week, OCTA observed a two-day strike to halt the supply of petroleum products in order to press their demands. However, they called off the strike after the government invited them to hold talks, which were held in Islamabad.