Oil industry seeks role in framing of deregulation policy

The oil industry has expressed concerns about its exclusion from an official working group tasked with developing a roadmap for deregulating the downstream oil sector. In a letter to the Petroleum Division and Ogra, the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) — an association of over three dozen oil companies and refineries — has said it had requested the government in November last to include major private sector stakeholders in the working group for consultation on deregulation. However, this remained a dream. “It is concerning to note that private sector refineries and oil marketing companies (OMCs), which play a pivotal role in the downstream oil industry, have not yet been included in the consultation process”, wrote OCAC’s chairman Adil Khattak to the secretary petroleum.