Pakistan defers September high-speed diesel imports

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) held a meeting on Wednesday with representatives from refineries and leading oil marketing companies (OMCs) to strategize on addressing high-speed diesel (HSD) stock issues, the regulator said.

The arrival of September cargoes by major importing OMCs has been deferred, and three October shipments are set to be either rationalized or canceled,” OGRA spokesman Imran Ghaznavi said in a statement.

The decision has been taken as Pakistan currently has surplus oil stocks covering 45-day.

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The September imports were estimated at 183,000 metric tons, and if they were imported, it would have led to an outflow of $140 million, which Pakistan badly needs given the non-approval of the loan by the International Monetary Fund.

“December cargoes may also be canceled if necessary,” Ghaznavi said adding that any cargo that has already arrived would be placed in bonded storage, preventing its sale until the end of September.

According to media reports, having with excessive stocks, oil refineries had lodged protest against the increase in import of diesel and inflow of smuggled oil products.

Earlier, Oil Companies Advisory Council Chairman Adil Khattak in a letter sent to OGRA Chairman Masroor Khan urged to take urgent action to stop HSD import and smuggling of the commodity.

As of today, HSD stocks in the country exceed 600,000 tons, with two cargoes of about 90,000 tons expected to be released in the coming days