ISLAMABAD : Sept 13: The caretaker government of prime minister, Anwaarul Haq Kakar , is going to face yet another crisis shortly .
This time its oil mafia which is going to test the capacity and will of the caretaker government by hoarding petroleum product stocks ahead of an official announcement of the new rates. There are two reasons of the looming crisis of petroleum products . One: the Oil Marketing Companies ( OMCs) and dealers are smelling a substantial increase in the rates of petroleum products on Sept 15 when the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) a bounces thr new rates for the next fortnight and hence they have created artificial shortage of petroleum products. Second: many OMCs have exhausted their stocks and they are not supplying petrol and diesel to their agents for many days.
An owner of one of OMCs told NEWSMAN on Wednesday while not disclosing his identity that Pakistan is heading for a serious crisis of oil supply as many small OMCs do not have any stocks and for the same their dealers particularly operating in small cities and towns are not getting supply for the last many days. Pakistan has a long history of petroleum products’ shortage . OMCs , dealers and agents have developed a nexus to create artificial shortage of petroleum products at any time to sell their stocks at higher rates once the new rates come effective.
The Petroleum ministry , which is supposed to ensure dedicated stocks for 29 days by OMCs, have always failed to exercise its authority to take prompt action against the hoarders of petroleum products. The nexus comprising OMCs , dealers and agents can drive their plan to create shortage of petroleum products in Pakistan whenever they smell any increase in the rates .
This mafia gets inside information from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) in advance of any increase in the prices of petroleum products and it then moves quickly to short supply to the dealers .
The dealers also apply the same strategy and stop sale of petroleum products till OGRA makes announcement of the new rates for next fortnight. This practise results in extortion of billions of the rupee from the end consumers of petroleum products.