High speed diesel shortage looming, oil companies warn govt, Ogra
The oil industry has warned the government and the energy regulator — Ogra — that a crisis is looming in high speed diesel (HSD) supplies, especially during the peak harvest season, due to a host of external and domestic factors. In a letter, the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) — an umbrella association of more than two dozen refineries and major oil companies — told the Ministry of Energy and the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) that the stock position at present was satisfactory, but could lead to a major crisis unless effective measures were put in place, authentic sources in the petroleum division told Dawn. “If planning is not done today, we may face problems in meeting the demand during harvesting season,” wrote the OCAC, adding that because of financial issues of Hascol, the local banks were reluctant to raise credit limits for the oil sector since banks had identified oil companies as high risk entities. The OCAC said shortages of HSD had been reported over the last 10 days by international energy experts, chiefly because of depletion in HSD stocks in the United States of America, exceptionally high gas prices and lower than normal through-put operations of refineries in the European Union.