Month: May 2022

The government’s decision to keep the price of oil unchanged is a political move in the context of the current political situation in the country, which contradicts the ground realities, said Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan and President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, Mian Zahid Hussain. He said complete elimination of oil, gas and electricity subsidies is necessary to save the country. Mian Zahid Hussain said that delaying unavoidable decisions is hurting the economy. He said that if the price of oil is to be maintained then why time…

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The total fuel subsidy to date reached Rs195 billion during March-May 2022, posing negative implications on the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) liquidity. The subsidy poses negative implications in particular to Pakistan State Oil (PSO) which has the largest share of around 50 per cent in retail fuel supply in the country. The government has maintained the prices of local oil products to protect consumers by further raising subsidies through price differential claims (PDCs). Farhan Mehmood at Sherman Securities said this would cost the national exchequer Rs60 billion on a fortnightly…

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Amid the Ministry of Finance’s protest over ‘unsustainable fuel subsidy’, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved Rs55.48 billion for immediate reimbursement of price differential claims (PDCs) to the oil industry at cheaper rates of petroleum products than their costs for the first half of May. The ECC meeting, presided over by Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue Miftah Ismail, also allowed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to explore the possibility of importing 200,000 tonnes of urea on a G2G basis and on deferred payment, said an official statement. Besides…

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Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), the primary representative of Pakistan’s downstream oil industry, has issued the sales numbers of High Speed Diesel (HSD) and Motor Spirit (MS) for the first fortnight of May 2022. The cumulative sale of HSD for the first fortnight was 363,667 MT, whereas the sale of MS stood at 363,210 MT. Expressing his concerns, Waqar Irshad Siddiqui, Chairman OCAC said, “The Downstream Oil Sector of the country has always remained committed to the interests of the country and the people. This is evident from the fact…

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The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has declared that K-Electric is generating electricity from ‘expensive and inefficient’ plants —— like Unit-3 of the Bin Qasim Power Station-1 (BQPS-1) —— with the impact of additional cost being reflected in the monthly Fuel Charge Adjustment (FCA) of Karachi-Electric Limited (KEL). Also, the delay in meeting the commercial operation date (COD) for BQPS-IlI and the subsequent interim utilisation of the inefficient Unit-3 of BQPS-I are due to the poor performance of KEL, says the regulator. The consumers should not be charged for…

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