Tag: Fuel

KARACHI - The soaring prices of POL (petrol, oil and lubricants) have remarkably increased the sale of smuggled Iranian petrol, causing losses worth billions of rupees to the exchequer, while important government personalities are also investing in and harbouring this illegal business, sources have informed Pakistan Today.
The daily consumption of Iranian petrol has gone through the ceiling, whereas a major decline between 10,000 tonnes and 15,000 tonnes in daily consumption of

KARACHI - Coupled with the strike-call given by the Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) on Thursday to protest the POL price hike, the announcement to continue the strike on Friday (today) has exhausted the petrol pumps across the city of its supply.
Fearing that the strike's extension would leave them without fuel, citizens in large numbers took their vehicles to petrol pumps to get them refuelled. Besides that, many people got several bottles and cans filled for storing petrol for

ISLAMABAD - Angry lawmakers from both treasury and opposition benches staged three separate token walkouts from the National Assembly on Tuesday to register their protest against the recent increase in petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) prices.
The two major opposition parties - the PML-N and PML-Q - staged separate token walkouts from the House following the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which belongs to the treasury benches. Speaking on a point of order, Haider Abbas Rizvi

ISLAMABAD - The government has increased the prices of petroleum products claiming that it has passed on just the impact in the international market to consumers, but a careful glance reveals that it has benefited the most from the price increase since it is charging more petroleum levy and sales tax.
An official source told Pakistan Today that the government was likely to continue increasing POL prices in coming months to meet the budget deficit, since the government was trying

Lahore - The recent increase in petroleum products prices was challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday by an application which was clubbed into a main petition pending on the matter. Mateenul Haq Chaudhry filed the petition submitting that the price hike was unlawful, ineffective and against the rights of citizens. The petitioner said that despite the fact that a petition was already pending against the previous petrol price hike, the federal government and the Oil and Gas

ISLAMABAD - The government announced a 9.9 percent increase in prices of petroleum products across the board on Monday to lower its fiscal deficit and said it would still have to absorb a differential of Rs 5 billion in March alone because it was not passing on the full impact of the price increase to consumers.
Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Senior Executive Director of Finance Syed Jawad Naseem said that the price of petrol had been increased by Rs 7.23 per litre from Rs

TEHRAN - Iran said on Saturday it is removing the fuel from the reactor of a Russian-built nuclear power plant, a move seen as a big blow to its controversial nuclear programme.
The decision to remove the fuel from the reactor of the nuclear plant in the southern city of Bushehr comes just months before the facility - which has seen a roller-coaster ride since its construction began in the 1970s - was scheduled to generate electricity.
"Based on the recommendation of

LAHORE - Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) has decreased gas pressure for domestic usage and CNG stations, causing huge problems for consumers. Consumers faced difficulties in preparing food due to very low gas pressure in the city during the last two days. The gas pressure remained low in every part of the city including Gulberg, Township, Garden Town, Shadman, Muslim Town, Wahdat Road and the Walled City.
On the other hand, low gas pressure at CNG stations irked motorists. A

KARACHI/LAHORE - The cash strapped Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on Thursday refused to supply furnace oil to the power sector due to the non-payment of its dues of Rs 158 billion. PSO has decided to discontinue the fuel supply to power sector to avoid further defaults on part of the sector, sources said.
They said PSO took the decision after oil refineries threatened it with halting fuel supply, and the state-run oil marketing company is now in no position to continue supplies

KARACHI - Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has agreed to continue to supply fuel to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) despite default running into over Rs 1.0 billion after receiving assurances that payments will be made on daily basis. It is noteworthy that the deadline given by PSO to PIA for payment of dues expired on Tuesday, a decision which was likely to cause PIA flights to ground to a complete halt across the country.
However, PIA secured a deal with PSO to maintain the

KARACHI - The Sale of oil in the country is witnessing a downward trend due to dwindling consumption, Pakistan Today has learnt. According to analysts, the consumption of oil sharply fell by 7.6 percent month-on-month and 2.1 percent year-on-year during seventh month of the current fiscal year, January 2011.
The major reason behind the decline in sales was less diesel consumption, which fell by nine percent to four million tonnes during this period, analysts said. Analysts cited

TEHRAN - Iran said on Sunday it had reached an agreement with Afghanistan to supply Iranian fuel to the war-torn country and started supplying the products to its neighbour's private sector. Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said, "Afghanistan's private sector buys all its needed products from Iran," the oil ministry news service Shana reported.
"Oil products were already transited to Afghanistan and we hope from now on this country makes all its (fuel) purchases from Iran as there

LAHORE - The federal government should not increase fuel prices otherwise a "tsunami of inflation" will hit the country, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Pervaiz Malik said on Sunday.
In a press statement, he said that the federal government would not be allowed to increase fuel prices on the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) pressure and if people come on the roads following protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, rulers would have to

KARACHI - Pakistan's ship bunker industry is on the verge of closure because of a crippling shortage of bunker fuel at the local ports, Pakistan Today has learnt. Industry sources claim the dearth is attributed to the government's untimely import of furnace oil.
The acute scarcity of bunker fuel has taken a massive toll on business conducted by bunker industry which has shrunk by 80 percent to only 5,000 metric tonnes (MT) from previous figures of 25,000 MT; a huge slump of

PESHAWAR - An oil tanker carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan has been gutted after a bomb planted in the vehicle exploded in Khyber Agency, officials said.
The blast took place late on Monday at a terminal near the Torkham border crossing in Khyber Agency, local administration official Iqbal Khattak told AFP.
"Around 25 tankers were parked at the terminal. Militants planted a bomb in one of the tankers which exploded triggering a fire," he said. It was not

KABUL - Iran's ban on fuel tankers crossing into Afghanistan over claims they are supplying NATO troops is snaring ordinary Afghans in a complex power game as winter living costs rise, experts say.
Some 2,000 trucks are stranded on the Iranian-Afghan border, Afghanistan's commerce ministry says, in a standoff which has run since early December, heaping more misery on civilians in the war-torn, impoverished country.
Behind it all is Iran's desire to strike out at the

KABUL - Afghan fuel protesters targeted an Iranian diplomatic mission for a second day on Sunday, as the commerce minister said Tehran had not given any reason for an export clampdown that is choking Afghan oil supplies.
Around 300 people took to the streets in western Herat city, armed with stones and eggs, and marched to the Iranian consulate carrying banners with slogans including "Death to Iran". At a border crossing barely 100 km (62 miles) away nearly 2,000 fuel trunks are