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after , electricity ! after gas shedding ! here comes no petrol?but why our politicians are silent

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Amid mounting criticism, petroleum minister apologises for fuel crisis
Dawn.com
Updated 27 minutes ago
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DawnNews screengrab shows Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi addressing a press conference.
ISLAMABAD: A week into the debilitating fuel shortage distressing the Punjab province, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday said he was ashamed on behalf of the government that the crisis has been allowed to continue.

At a press conference in Islamabad, Abbasi accepted responsibility for the crisis and said that a high-level committee had been formed to investigate those responsible for the shortage.

The minister said that oil supply has been increased by 30 per cent throughout the country.

“Supply has increased by 50 per cent in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and 100 per cent in Lahore,” Abassi said during his briefing.

“CNG supply has been restored in Lahore and Karachi so that pressure can be removed from petrol stations,” he said.

The petroleum minister expressed optimism that the energy crisis would be resolved within a week. He also said that petroleum prices will be further reduced in the country in February.



PM chairs high level meeting on petrol crisis


Earlier today, Abbasi and other high-ranking officials participated in a meeting on the petroleum crisis which took place at the Prime Minister's House in the federal capital.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had chaired the high-level meeting.

Besides Abbasi, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar and Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Abbasi briefed the participants on the reasons behind the acute shortage of petrol, and also highlighted the steps undertaken to overcome it.

The premier expressed strong displeasure over the crisis and directed the officials present at the meeting to fix the matter.

Last week, the petrol crisis in Punjab had taken a turn for the worse as an increasing number of petrol pumps dried up and hundreds queued up outside fuel stations in various cities.

Frustrated citizens in Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Sialkot and Multan spent Sunday queuing up at the handful of petrol pumps open in the respective cities, with some saying they had been there overnight without any respite.

The shortage of fuel has affected emergency healthcare services and public transporters as ambulances and buses are idle due to a lack of fuel.

Who do you hold primarily responsible for the petrol crisis?
Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan AbbasiFinance Minister Ishaq DarPrime Minister Nawaz SharifManaging Director Pakistan State Oil Amjid JanjuaNone of the above
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Its used in every house for cooking.
And for the poor people/labourers et all, all they can afford to eat many times is roti with onions.
Well in that case you people did a good job keeping its price in control.
 
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Today I stood in line for 7 hours...from 6:45 p.m till 1:45 a.m to get petrol ! :cry:
haha dude ur in Lahore I know some people who are in the petrol business... Next time just tell me i will tell u which pump to go to :P the problem is solved now nearly.. by tomorrow things will be much better. N yes i think i have to get a cng kit in my car, an Lpg kit, and a harness for a donkey also... Things look bleak :P
 
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Well in that case you people did a good job keeping its price in control.
Cant comment on whether a good job has been done or not.

But any major price rise of essential foods is essentially a death knell for any Government in India.

The onions literally made the Government cry that time, they lost the coming elections.
 
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Cant comment on whether a good job has been done or not.

But any major price rise of essential foods is essentially a death knell for any Government in India.

The onions literally made the Government cry that time, they lost the coming elections.
That's the way it should be.
 
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There is no crime , if some one take it free the feul, from black marketers.
by hook or crook!
 
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Petrol crisis deepens, spills over to Karachi
Khaleeq Kiani
Updated 17 minutes ago
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As if to suggest a way to mitigate the fuel crisis, this solar-powered van passes by a long queue of cars waiting for petrol at a filling station in Islamabad on Monday.—Online
ISLAMABAD: As the shortage of petrol has started shifting from Punjab to Karachi, the government appears to be working on managing the public outrage and panic buying but remains confused over the build-up to the crisis.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had cancelled all his official engagements to focus on the fuel crisis, went into a meeting with ministers and bureaucrats on the situation on Monday afternoon and constituted a two-member investigation team subordinate to the ministers for finance and petroleum.

At their separate news conferences, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar absolved himself of any direct or indirect responsibility for the petrol shortage and termed it “a conspiracy against the government”, while Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi apologised to the nation for the hardship and said he be taken to task if found responsible for the crisis.

Mr Abbasi said the investigation team would submit its report to the prime minister on Tuesday. He appealed to the public to avoid panic buying as supplies had been beefed up and promised over Rs5 per litre reduction in prices of petroleum products on Feb 1.

Read: Amid mounting criticism, petroleum minister apologises for fuel crisis

Responding to a question, Mr Abbasi said he was ready to resign if found responsible for the crisis.

Finance Minister Dar faced a volley of questions about non-provision of foreign exchange for oil import, his omnipresence with all aspects of the government and daily stock position of important products.

He took responsibility for mismanagement for being part of the government and agreed responsibility should be fixed, but insisted that there should be fiscal discipline to control circular debt, instead of pointing fingers at his ministry.

PM forms inquiry committee, Dar absolves himself of responsibility, Abbasi apologises
While the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement submitted adjournment motions to the National Assembly and the Senate, respectively, asking the government to fix responsibility over the fuel crisis, a meeting of the PTI’s core committee accused the ruling PML-N of abject failure and said the party would soon announce a countrywide protest.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah contacted the leaders of a number of opposition parties and they agreed to requisition the assembly session to discuss the fuel crisis.

Two standing committees of parliament also expressed displeasure over the fuel shortage and urged the government to fix responsibility after a thorough investigation in a transparent manner, instead of hiding facts.

The committee constituted by the prime minister comprises Zahid Muzaffar, an adviser in the petroleum ministry, and Zafar Masud, a chartered accountant. Mr Muzaffar is also chairman and Mr Masud member of the board of directors of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited.

The committee will review correspondences and exchange of daily stock and circular debt positions among supply chains which may include the ministries of finance and petroleum, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and oil companies.

Informed sources said the participants of the meeting presided over by the prime minister remained perplexed over the cause of sudden fuel shortages at most depots, particularly in Punjab.

It was reported that about 40,000 tons of petrol had been sold across the country on Jan 1, but it was surprising that 31,000 tons of them was sold in Punjab alone. It was also suspected that petrol was smuggled through Cholistan because of its higher rates across the border.

According to an official statement, the prime minister expressed “extreme displeasure over the difficulties being faced by people due to non-availability of fuel”. He was informed that 15,600 tons of petrol was supplied on Monday across the country against an average daily consumption of 12,000 tons and “additional supply will be ensured in the coming month”.

The prime mister directed the water and power ministry to immediately reduce line losses and recover the outstanding amount of over Rs500 billion to clear payments due to the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and other liabilities.

The meeting was attended by the ministers for petroleum, finance and water and power and their secretaries and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Petroleum Minister Khaqan Abbasi and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the shortage had nothing to do with the financial crunch.

Mr Abbasi said the shortage was caused by the exceptional demand in January and delay of a shipment, but claimed that the supply situation had been stabilised and the shortage would completely come to an end within this week.

He said CNG stations had been reopened in Karachi and Lahore and petrol supplies beefed up in major cities of Punjab. He said 1.6 million litres of petrol had been dispatched to Lahore against its average requirement of 800,000 litres. Likewise, supply to Rawalpindi was increased to 575,000 litres against its requirement of 400,000 tons, while dispatches to Islamabad were increased to 600,000 tons against its average consumption of 425,000 tons.

This, however, had an impact in Karachi where a number of fuel stations were reportedly closed because of diversion of supplies to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Besides Karachi, long queues of motorists were seen at fuel stations in other cities and towns of Sindh. Dealers claimed that petrol pumps across the province had received 50 per cent less than the required supply on Monday.

“If the trend continues, I fear the situation will not be different [from that of Punjab] in Sindh,” said Abdul Sami Khan of the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association.

Khaqan Abbasi said the prime minister had directed that the shortage be overcome as early possible and ensured that it did not repeat in future. According to him, the prime minister also ordered increasing storages and supplies and asked the finance ministry to help resolve PSO’s financial difficulties. The power ministry was asked to clear circular debt at the earliest.

Mr Abbasi said the PSO was a Rs1.6 trillion company where Rs250bn or so of receivables and payables was a routine matter which should have been managed. He said he was not aware of any conspiracy against the government as claimed by the finance minister.

He said the Federal Board of Revenue would earn additional revenue because of increased GST rate and sales. He said it was Ogra’s responsibility to monitor 20-day stocks and take action for violations, but it was also a fact that 20-day storage was not available in the country.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the ECC had reviewed the stocks position on Jan 10 when petrol was enough for eight days and diesel for 18 days, but denied that he received the daily stocks position. He said his ministry owed nothing to the PSO and nothing was outstanding on account of power sector subsidies.

He said his ministry was always ready to support the PSO and the power sector, but there needed to be some fiscal discipline. He said the power minister had sought Rs10bn and he had released it immediately.

Published in Dawn January 20th , 2015
 
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So OPEC did not announce plans to cut production yet, how sad, govt. lost chance to transfer the blame to oil producing countries.
 
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