ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Musadik Malik has warned of “dire consequences” for those involved in hoarding petroleum products and causing artificial fuel shortages. His warning comes amid reports of oil shortages in the country, which are primarily due to hoarding of stocks and a failure by some companies to import the commodity. Last month, the government raised the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 35 per liter each, which has led some petrol pumps to stop supplying the commodity to customers as they plan to store it for future sales.
According to the Minister, ample stocks of petroleum products are available in the country to meet the needs of petrol for 20 days and diesel for 29 days. He added that a few people were creating an artificial shortage by hoarding the products and the government would take action against such illegal activities.
Dr. Musadik stated that the prices of petroleum products were revised according to the international market and rupee-dollar parity and the government was working to finalize an agreement with Russia for low-cost crude oil.
Experts believe that the petroleum division has failed to handle the oil dealers’ mafia, leading to a lack of governance and consumers being exploited through artificial fuel shortages. They called for the explosive department working under the petroleum division to use its powers to cancel the licenses of petroleum dealers and for oil marketing companies to take action against petroleum dealers.
