It’s feared that Pakistan might be facing a fuel crisis as the supply of petrol and diesel plunges due to the oil tankers strike which has been going on since yesterday. For over 24 hours, no supply has been made to petrol pumps, we have checked with sources.
Oil tanker association met with OGRA today but negotiations failed as government decided not to submit to a single demand put forward by oil tanker owners.
OGRA in fact stated that oil distribution companies are behind the strike and that government will not move an inch to accept the demands of oil tanker owners.
It maybe recalled that oil tanker owners are not happy with the new rules that government made to avoid incidents like Ahmed Pur East, where over 200 lives were lost.
After new strict policies, the oil tanker owners said that Ahmed Pur East incident was not due to the oil tanker, but it was the people who caused the spark when they tried to widen a hole that was leaking oil.
Next round of negotiation is not expected before tomorrow afternoon. Till then thousands of oil tankers are going to remain static.
As a result, petrol pumps are now being very careful in distributing their remaining supply and long queues are already forming across major cities in Pakistan.
The situation, if it worsens, will trigger a country wide fuel crisis that can potentially bring the country to a halt.
Some tweets from across the country: