Fuel, power shortage looms as oil stocks plummet

[Echo_419]

Low oil price shall be in fact a boast for power increase and not shortage? What kind of logic is that? Those responsible for this crisis shall be hanged.

Agreed these idiots should be hanged

If you signed a year long contract to buy oil at $90/barrel back in June2014, you're in deep trouble right now.

Bechare Malik unki Raksha kare

 

[VCheng]

What the heck is going on in this country?

How can you suddenly run out of petrol? No planning, no foresight, no forecast...this doesn't just happen in a day, you get prior indications.

No petrol in Islamabad and Pindi. Only the select stations selling have huge lines.

Sab kuch Allah kee dein hey, kabhi kam, kabhi ziada.

 

[niaz]

On the whole low oil/energy prices are good for all non OPEC countries. However there are exceptions.

About 8,000 job cuts in the BP staff associated with North Sea production have already been announced. More job losses are expected as oil wells where cost of production is higher than spot oil prices will be shut down. I know for a fact that some Sinopec production wells in the North Sea have become uneconomic.

You would see that investment in the exploitation of tight/shale gas will dry up. As Oil Industry tightens its belt; I wouldn’t be surprised if new foreign investment in exploration in Pakistan also stops.

Unless coal prices also plummet, gas & fuel oil powered plants become more economical due to their higher efficiency. This implies that investment in Thar coal & in the coal powered power plants also becomes doubtful.

 

[WAJsal]

True that. But it's a viable option.

seeing how stupid our govt is,i guess i can't say you are wrong,everything will be back to normal in couple of days.

 

[WishLivePak]

On the whole low oil/energy prices are good for all non OPEC countries. However there are exceptions.

About 8,000 job cuts in the BP staff associated with North Sea production have already been announced. More job losses are expected as oil wells where cost of production is higher than spot oil prices will be shut down. I know for a fact that some Sinopec production wells in the North Sea have become uneconomic.

You would see that investment in the exploitation of tight/shale gas will dry up. As Oil Industry tighten its belt; I wouldn’t be surprised if new foreign investment in exploration in Pakistan also stops.

Unless coal prices also plummet, gas & fuel oil powered plants become more economical due to their higher efficiency. This implies that investment in Thar coal & in the coal powered power plants also becomes doubtful.

This oil stuff won't' last very long. Maybe a year.

Till then, we should try to make most of the low price of oil. Produce more electricity (those that run on oil), build more infrastructures (labor is cheap in pakistan, not machinery. cheaper operational cost for bulldozer etc).

And they need to stop offering more discounts on oil prices. Oil prices won't drop beyond 40 (cheapest oil produced, like in saudi, costs $15-40/barrel). So charge whatever price is for janruary for as long as profitable and use the profits to build infrastructures or pay off loans.

on a final note, CNG needs to be banned temporarily or price drastically increased until winter is over. The LNG shipment may start in March, so till then people can start cooking.

 

[niaz]

I have certain info about furnace oil used for power generation.

In October 2014 PSO awarded 14 cargoes of 65,000 tons each for delivery during Nov, Dec 2014 & January 2015. 6 cargoes were awarded to Bakri & 8 cargoes to Vitol. This purchase was FOB Fujairah; that is PSO had to send their ships to load the fuel. Thus far 3 out 8 cargoes have been uplifted from Vitol & only 2 out of 6 from Bakri. Thus by the end December 2014 instead of 10 cargoes only 5 or half the requirement had been loaded. Price is related to the Bill of Lading date, hence PSO benefited from this delay because furnace oil price has declined by 50%. But it also means that furnace oil stocks must have been depleted.

Demand for petrol has indeed gone up mainly because CNG is not freely available and car owners are forced to fill up with petrol instead. However, I am sure that PSO also deliberately delayed importing gasoline/petrol to take advantage of falling prices. When pressed to honour their contractual commitment; PSO claim that they did not receive payment for supplies to gov’t owned companies and thus have no money to open the Letter of Credit.

Lack of funds is no doubt partially the problem, but for purely commercial reasons, if I were MD of PSO, I would also sell out the last drop of expensive oil before I purchase additional supplies.
This may sound callous, but any profit oriented company will do the same. It was GOP’s job to release the fund so that PSO could not use lack of funds as an excuse. However for that you need a competent and strong Petroleum Minister.

Long time ago, I was attending one of the various Effective Management Courses as part of training programme for young Esso Executives. One of the styles of CEO discussed was the “Toilet Paper MD.” This described the CEO who was so autocratic that only he could decide what kind of toilet paper was to be purchased for the company bath rooms.

We have " Toilet Paper MDs" in the persons of Sharif brothers. Every decision has to wait for their okay and to hell with the Pakistani public.

 

[cricketrulez]

Fear not! Riazhaq will be over here in a minute and explain to you how this is great for pakistan and how india is screwed because of this

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

If we introduce HANGING for "people" who steal from People like they do in China , 2 hours all will be fixed


Many years ago I proposed that in order to MOVE forward we have to take step back and bring back horses and carts back

And that is still true !!

 

[Screambowl]

On the edge: Furnace oil stock used up, massive blackout feared – The Express Tribune

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Lol they just showed Nawaz sharif's funny speech claiming petrol prices will be going down ...and its all his achivement

however now...there is no petrol

Ab to kaam khalas ho giya

Qadri bhi araha hai

Imran bhi shadi ke baad refresh ho giyya hai

 

[kṣamā]

Pakistan shaken by fuel crisis

IANS | Islamabad January 18, 2015 Last Updated at 15:24 IST





Pakistan has a new crisis: widespread fuel shortages that have raised tempers all across the country and forced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to sack top officials.

Newspapers have reported scuffles at fuel stations in major cities as hundreds of cars and two-wheelers lined up for petrol and diesel - only to be told that none was available.

The Dawn said many motorists in cities such as Lahore, Faislabad, Islamabad, Sialkot and Multan spent the night queuing up at the handful of petrol pumps still open.

A fuming Sharif, on his return from Saudi Arabia Saturday after a two-day visit, sacked four officials including Petroleum Secretary Abid Saeed, his deputy Naeem Malik and Pakistan State Oil chief Amjad Janjua.

Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, however, kept his job, apparently because of his closeness to Sharif.

Newspapers reported that the prime minister had directed provincial governments to check black-marketing of petrol. It was decided to expedite the supply and delivery of petrol.

The Daily Times quoted Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as admitting that the government failed to anticipate the fuel crisis. He said he was ashamed to see long queues of cars at petrol stations.

The crisis began about a week ago -- amid the winter chill.

"As of now, public has to run from one filling station to another in search of petrol in many areas of the country," the Daily Times said. "If available, it is being sold on exorbitant prices.

"The dealers and petrol pumps owners are taking full advantage of the situation in the absence of effective government checks," it said.

Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that compressed natural gas (CNG) stations would reopen in Lahore in a bid to meet the fuel shortage.

According to newspapers, a large number of filling stations have remained shut for six long days after exhausting their stock.

Prime Minister Sharif Sunday ordered an inquiry into the crisis.

A frustrated Pakistani was quoted as saying: "Had to take brother to hospital at 3 a.m.. No petrol in car, begged for few drops... got some in black eventually."

In Multan, angry residents staged street protests, the media said.

The Dawn said the shortages had affected emergency healthcare services. Public transport has also been hit hard.

Dawn News quoted economist Shahid Hassan Siddiqui as saying that "poor governance, incompetence and corruption" were to blame for the mess, not the international fuel prices.

The crisis has brought down electricity generation by over 2,000 MW, the media said, raising the deficit to 7,000 MW.

More power plants were likely to suspend work soon, the Dawn said.

Opposition leader Imran Khan has slammed the government.

"This government is worse than the PPP's," he said. "In the PPP tenure, oil prices were twice as compared to now but even then never ever did this kind of worst fuel shortage take place."

Officials claimed that the crisis was set to end as 50,000 tonnes of crude had reached Karachi from the Middle East.

The Dawn said in an editorial: "The crisis is the result of the heavy centralization of all decision-making in the hands of a very small number of individuals, which is the hallmark of this government's style."

 

[aks18]

Nooni toons ka jamhori experience

 

[Zarvan]

Fuel, power shortage looms as oil stocks plummet
....................................

ISLAMABAD: Filling stations and power plants have started drying up as petrol and furnace oil stocks plummeted to dangerous level mainly because of chronic circular debt coupled with falling oil prices, affecting private transport and increasing load-shedding.

The country’s total petrol stocks have dropped below 60,000 tonnes, which can only meet requirement for less than four days, while furnace oil stocks stand at 40,000 tonnes, which cannot go beyond two days of consumption if power plants are run at optimum level.

Informed sources said the fuel supply to power stations had been scaled down to 10,000 tonnes a day to stretch reduced power generation to four days but fresh supplies would not be available until Jan 25 as next fuel import was due in the last week of this month.

Consequently, power load-shedding has increased to more than 12 hours in major cities like Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan. The oil marketing companies, including Pakistan State Oil, have also started petrol rationing but queues have started to appear due to panic buying, they said.

Running at optimum level, power plants can consume 32,000 tonnes a day, but due to financing problems they are normally averaged at 15,000-20,000 tonnes.

Speaking to Dawn, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi downplayed the situation, saying there were some issues with PSO, but they have now been resolved and petrol supply was getting normal. The situation at other marketing companies was also not as bad, he said.

Regarding furnace oil and power shortfall, he said it was a usual thing as fuel could not be supplied without payments. He said he was advocating minimum utilisation of furnace oil for power generation because it was not a wise approach to generate expensive power.

The maximum fuel supply in the recent past to power sector stood at 24,000 tonnes on the eve of Eid, and had since come down to 15,000 tonnes, he said.

He said the situation would improve in about a month, followed by further improvement when imported LNG was supplied to the power sector after March this year. He agreed that the government had to divert gas supply from the industrial sector a couple of days ago to meet higher demand in the domestic sector.

He said consumers, oil companies and dealers also postponed purchasing the product from the outlets in the last few days of December anticipating price reduction, and this led to abnormal demand and sale in the first week of January. In addition, the demand for petrol in Punjab had also gone up due to non-availability of CNG.

Fuel, power shortage looms as oil stocks plummet - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

This just proves How corrupt and incompetent PML N is along with PPP

 

[livingdead]

cant pak govt buy it from black market or something... if I forget to fill tank of my bike I buy it from road side shop.. they are orange color petrol but generally work...

 

[pakman12]

This shortage is a scam to inflate the price of fuel. While the rest of the world is reducing retail prices due to the oversupply of oil, the leaders of pakistan are colluding with their oil buddies to keep the price up.
Absolutely criminal behavior and to be expected for these corrupt people. It's the same scam as the previous flour, sugar, potato, etc shortages. I'm betting there is stockpiling going on somewhere as the oil comes into the country.

Let's not forget that the Saudis actually discount the oil sold to Asian countries such as Pakistan so they would be getting it at least a few dollars cheaper than the current Brent oil price.

The system should automatically determine how much demand there is for fuel and supply should be replenished accordingly. Everyone pays for the fuel so there is no excuse that there is not enough money to import the needed oil.