Federal petroleum minister says there is no shortage at present, global prices are up 80 percent against a 50 percent pass-through in Pakistan, and gas imports will be scaled up for winter.
LAHORE: Federal Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik warned in Lahore on Sunday that the price of petrol could rise to Rs1,000 per litre if a shortage were to emerge, while stressing that there is currently no shortage in the country.
He said global oil prices had increased by 80 percent while prices in Pakistan had been raised by only 50 percent, crediting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with capping the pass-through to consumers.
The minister said the public would not be allowed to face a gas shortage in winter even if the government had to import $100 million worth of gas instead of $3 million, and that tokens worth Rs180 million had been issued in a single day under the fuel relief scheme.
Speaking to journalists in Lahore, Ali Pervaiz Malik said there was currently no petrol shortage in the country, but that the price could reach Rs1,000 per litre if a shortage emerged. Oil had become more expensive in Europe and the United States. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as a responsible premier, had put a cap on the rise in petrol prices. Lahore motorists have nonetheless absorbed repeated increases this year, including three hikes in three days at the start of September.
On winter supply, the minister said the public would not be allowed to face a gas shortage even if the government had to import $100 million worth of gas instead of $3 million. The commitment lands as the Gulf crisis squeezes LNG cargoes and as gas circular debt reaches Rs3,600 billion, with a three-year clearance plan under preparation. He said tokens worth Rs180 million had been issued in a single day, a reference to the Rs100-per-litre relief scheme for motorcycles, rickshaws and 800cc cars — a programme some dealers have refused to supply fuel under.
The minister urged Jamaat-e-Islami to refrain from exploiting people’s difficulties for political gain, saying its delegation had been informed that the government was facing challenges. The party ended its month-long Mall Road sit-in on Friday to focus on an Islamabad long march that its own schedule put at September 20, with its chief repeating the demand that the petroleum levy be scrapped. Separately, the government has been weighing a petroleum ‘smart lockdown’ as traders threaten protest.
On exploration, he said work had begun on the wells and that oil would be discovered by October — a claim the ministry has not accompanied with field names, block details or volume estimates.
He added that he would tell PTI workers not to use other people’s children as fuel in opposition to the government and that no one would be allowed to march on Islamabad. Asked about Aleema Khan’s detention, he said he was unaware of it; the Lahore deputy commissioner had by then issued a 30-day order holding her under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance. He said the local government system and administrative units would be discussed in the assembly.
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