ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik has said Pakistan has sufficient petrol stocks for September and has completed planning for October, while the government is now arranging supplies for November as disruption to key Gulf shipping routes continues to strain the country’s fuel supply chain.
Speaking on an ARY News programme, the minister said the region is going through a period of uncertainty, with the Strait of Hormuz currently closed and the situation at the Bab el-Mandeb strait also far from normal.
Malik said one Pakistani vessel had already made it out through Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow passage linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. He added that Islamabad had made its position clear to all parties: an attack on a ship flying the Pakistani flag would be treated as an act of war.
He also said Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which carries crude from the kingdom’s eastern oilfields to the Red Sea coast, is currently shut. A second Pakistani vessel is in that area, and a decision on bringing it out is still pending.
“The government will ensure that our petrol supply line continues,” the minister said.
Explaining how supply is managed, Malik said Pakistan runs on commercial reserves rather than large state-held stockpiles. Oil marketing companies are required under the terms of their licences to maintain their own stocks, he said, and they are bound to do so.
To verify those stocks, he said, third-party certificates are being obtained in connection with AWC, while the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) is carrying out its own inspections.
The minister also made a pointed remark about spending priorities. Planes, vehicles and similar things should not be given priority, he said, at a time when people find it difficult even to afford two meals a day. He did not elaborate on the context of the comment.
Pakistan imports the bulk of its petroleum needs and has been exposed to Gulf supply shocks for much of this year. The Strait of Hormuz was closed in early March following the US-Israeli offensive on Iran, and Malik at the time asked Saudi Arabia to keep oil flowing through the Red Sea port of Yanbu as an alternative route, a request Riyadh’s envoy pledged to support.
In April, the petroleum minister formed a high-level committee to prepare plans for strategic petroleum reserves capable of providing a fuel buffer of up to 90 days, a long-standing gap in the country’s energy security.
An interim US-Iran deal later led to the reopening of the strait, allowing the government to cut petrol prices by Rs74 per litre on June 19 and to move to weekly fuel price reviews. The minister’s latest remarks indicate that the route is again closed, while fresh instability around Bab el-Mandeb and attacks on Saudi Arabia have added to the pressure. The Lahore Times recently reported on calls for Muslim unity after Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The supply challenge has come alongside rising pump prices, which have drawn criticism from political parties, including the PMML, which recently warned of public backlash over repeated petrol price hikes. The federal government is separately weighing fuel conservation measures to reduce consumption.
The minister’s message was one of reassurance that the stocks are in place for the coming weeks, planning has been done a month ahead, and the state is working to secure supplies beyond that. How long that position holds will depend largely on circumstances at sea (Bab al-Mandab Strait and Strait of Hormuz), far from Pakistan’s shores.
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