On Friday, Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said there was a shortage of gas. Still, furnace oil was imported, wasting valuable foreign exchange.
There was no shortage of furnace oil in the country. Still, despite the abundance, vast quantities of furnace oil were imported, triggering a crisis which is a glaring example of mismanagement, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that there is no more capacity to store furnace oil in the country, leading to the closure of refineries, which is a matter of concern.
Talking to the business community, Mian Zahid Hussain said that action should be taken against those responsible for this mismanagement, resulting in colossal losses to the national exchequer and refineries.
He said that large quantities of furnace oil imports have resulted in low sales of various refineries, and they were shutting down their operations.
Refineries are now being pressured to export the surplus furnace oil to overcome the crisis, which will be a massive loss.
The business leader noted that various refineries had expressed fears of a severe crisis even before the furnace oil import, but no one listened to them, which is fantastic.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that dues are also not being paid to IPPs due to which they have reduced the purchase of furnace oil from refineries which is aggravating the crisis.
Some IPPs are buying imported furnace oil, increasing the problems for the local refineries and affecting the production of kerosene, petrol, diesel, and lube base oil. The country is also facing a scarcity of lubricants.
He said that on the orders of the Power Division, PSO had imported 120,000 tons of furnace oil which reached Pakistan in two ships on November 13, but it has not been unloaded yet, and PSO has to pay almost $25,000 demurrage daily.
At present, the stock of furnace oil in the country has reached 300,000 tonnes while the electricity demand has come down to 10,000 MW, which has affected the sales of furnace oil.
He demanded that billions of rupees have been lost due to this mismanagement, which should be investigated.