Islamabad: With the severe electricity crisis already being faced by the country, the shortage of furnace oil will add more load shedding in the upcoming days as only 5 days storage is left to produce electricity through it, while the circulation debt in the department has gone beyond 400 billion rupees.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural resources has demanded 21 billion rupees on a daily basis to ensure the uninterrupted supply of Furnace Oil.
According to Secretary Petroleum and Natural Resources Mohammad Ejaz Chaudhry, the Ministry of Finance has released only 13 billion rupees in reply to Pakistan State Oil’s demand of 21 billion rupees daily, whereas PSO requires 21 billion rupees daily to import the required quantity of Furnace oil.
He told the press that Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has intensified its efforts to increase the supply of Gas to Energy Sector and now with an increase of 100 Million Cubic Feet per Day 1387MCF of gas is being supplied everyday. However Ministry of Water and Power has sought more gas supply to the IPPs.
According to the Spokesman of PSO, the remnants of Governmental Oil Marketing have reached above 175 billion rupees. He told that from 1st to 27th March PSO has provided a value of 32 billion rupees Furnace oil but it has only received 14 billion rupees in return and that is happening every month.
PSO is bound to store 21 days fuel storage but due to circulation debt and financial difficulties it is able to store fuel of 7 to 10 days only and now it is left with only fuel storage of 5 days.