Fair treatment to OMCs urged

KARACHI: Concerned over unfair treatment to smaller Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), top trade body officials on Wednesday called on the government to help these businesses survive.

“Smooth functioning of OMCs is indispensable for any economy and continuing investments in midstream and down-stream sectors are as eminent,” said Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, president Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) in a statement.

Maggo lamented the fact that investigations and enquiries were still continuing over the June 2020 petrol crisis and were keeping OMCs unnecessarily occupied with regulatory tangles. He added that if any wrongdoing was established on the basis of the inquiry report, the culprits should have been punished by now; instead of continuing with the inquiry incessantly.

Maggo said that Pakistan’s midstream and down-stream sectors need huge investments in order to increase refinery capacities and modernise their end-products to minimise carbon emissions.

He added that major part of these investments will come as FDI (foreign direct investment) coupled with technology transfer – and, harassment of OMCs were proving to be detrimental already.