Petroleum supply hit as refineries face crisis

The sub-optimal capacity utilisation of oil refineries has started affecting the supply of critical petroleum products, including jet fuel, at important installations. Sources at the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) told Dawn that an important defence organisation had asked the regulator to ensure that its regulated entities, particularly local refineries, honour their commitments to supply JP-8 fuel. The sources said that none of the six oil refineries had provided their committed quantities to defence organisations in the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year. Based on the complaint, the government and Ogra have now pushed all refineries to ensure their committed supplies. However, the refineries have responded that Ogra’s lenient view towards importing finished petroleum products like petrol and diesel by a couple of selected oil marketing companies was taking a toll on their capacity utilisation, and they were pushed to close their refining units.