Pakistan's Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has suspended the licenses of six oil marketing companies for failing to maintain gasoline stocks equivalent to 14 days of typical consumption, an official said Tuesday.
Failure to meet the new guideline meant the government had to import heavily to fend off shortages in the country, the official said.
The suspensions apply to Admore Gas, Asakar oil Services, Bakri Trading, Hascol Petroleum, Overseas Oil Trading and Byco Petroleum Pakistan, he added.
A gasoline shortage emerged in early June when Attock Refinery Limited or ARL's Morgah refinery in Rawalpindi was shut for one month of annual maintenance, then aggravated by the closures of National Refinery's Karachi operation and Bycos' plant in Hub, Balochistan, also for turnarounds.
Pakistan typically consumes around 200,000 mt/month of gasoline, of which 25% is imported, 50-60% supplied by Pakistan State Oil and the balance by other local refiners.
The shortage prompted the ministry in early June to direct all oil marketing companies to maintain stocks of between 7 and 20 days of consumption, depending on company size, and gave them six months to comply or face heavy penalties, including license cancellation.
Dominant player PSO was required to maintain 20 days of refined product stocks, and smaller oil marketing companies seven to 14 days of supply.
Annual demand of petroleum products in the country is about 20 million mt (400,000 b/d), of which 13% is met through local resources, while the other 87% is imported. For fiscal year 2009-2010 (July-June), the import bill for crude and refined products was around $10 billion.
