Ogra fines three OMCs

ISLAMABAD:The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Monday imposed fine amounting to Rs15 million on three more Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for not maintaining the required fuel stocks as per terms and conditions of the licences awarded to them.

Ogra imposed penalty of Rs5 million each to BYCO, ASKAR and BE ENERGY on show cause notices issued during oil shortage crisis earlier this month, authority's spokesman Imran Ghaznavi said in a tweet. On June 11, Ogra imposed plenty of Rs5 million each on Attock Petroleum Limited, Puma, Gas & Oil Pakistan Limited and Hascol, and Rs10 million each on Shell Pakistan and Total Parco Pakistan Limited.

On June 3, the authority issued show cause notices to these OMCs for not maintaining the mandatory fuel stocks at their depots, which disturbed supply chain of petroleum products in the country. Following the fuel shortage, as many as twenty-two teams of Ogra along with experts of Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan started carrying out inspection of all OMCs' depots across the country aimed at ending the artificial fuel shortage created by some opportunists.