The non-transparent LNG deal?

The non-transparent LNG deal? April 17, 2015 Documents available with Business Recorder reveal that the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) has approved a mechanism of direct payment for LNG imported from Qatar to Pakistan State Oil (PSO) by the Ministry of Finance from the subsidy payable to power sector. Three major conclusions can be drawn from this. First that the letter of credit was opened by the PSO, an entity that comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, and not by any private sector entity including the CNG sector and the fertilizer sector. Secondly, PSO and its parent ministry would therefore naturally be engaged in negotiating a price for LNG import with Qatar. And finally, subsequent to the arrival of one LNG shipment to Pakistan to maintain that the price of LNG has not yet been agreed between the governments of Qatar and Pakistan defies belief. Brotherly relations aside, no government is going to send one consignment to another country valued at millions of dollars, without first reaching an agreement on price. Be that as it may, the following is the pricing formula approved by CCoE for the LNG import: (i) LNG price DES; (ii) PSO margin; (iii) terminal charges; (iv) SSGCL administrative margin for LSA; (v) SSGC cost of service and or transportation charges; and (vi) transmission and distribution losses. However, the exact amount to be charged under each head is not available and as such neither the per unit import price of the commodity nor any other prices under items (ii) to (vi) above have been released to the public. The allocation of the imported gas has also come under severe criticism. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi publicly stated that the CNG and fertilizer sectors would benefit from the first consignment but later the CNG sector was ignored (much to the chagrin of the sector claiming that each station had set aside major finances to procure LNG from the first consignment). The fertilizer sector was considered to be the main beneficiary of the first consignment but that policy too was revised and eventually the entire LNG cargo was dispatched to one company namely: Pak-Arab Fertilizer. One would have assumed that given the massive continuing energy shortfall the government would have preferred allocating LNG to those sectors that use it as a fuel notably the power sector whereas the fertilizer sector uses LNG as raw material. That too has inexplicably not happened and no clarification has been forthcoming with confusion fuelling accusations of massive kickbacks. What is extremely unfortunate is that the incumbent government has been taking several economic decisions with millions of dollars of the taxpayers' money involved that are simply not transparent. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has stated on the electronic media that the government is considering amending the public procurement rules that would facilitate the agreement on LNG imports. This no doubt must have further raised the hackles of analysts and civil society alike given the fact that already the government has been agreeing to commercial deals that are violative of the PPRA rules by citing national interest. Disturbingly, the Prime Minister has stood by the flawed non-transparent decisions taken by his cabinet members - (for example, the Nandipur project and import of substandard wheat from Ukraine and Russia with large wheat stocks held in our godowns) and non-transparent alike - because of the rather strange logic that firing any cabinet member for lack of performance would weaken his government. This approach belies his earlier stance that he would constantly review the performance of each minister and minister of state and those found wanting would be fired. One can only hope that the Prime Minister takes cognizance of the performance of his cabinet colleagues and takes appropriate measures when found wanting. ================== Energy deal: Moscow to lend $2b for LNG pipeline By Zafar Bhutta Published: April 18, 2015 Petroleum minister says Russia will start its first LNG exports in 2016 and has also offered to sell gas to Pakistan. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia have finalised an agreement under which Moscow will lend Islamabad $2 billion to lay a pipeline that will transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Karachi to Lahore, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says, adding that in return Russian companies will be awarded the contract to build the pipeline. The formal agreement between the two sides is expected to be signed next month, following which Pakistan will also sign a commercial agreement with a Russian firm that Moscow will identify as its preferred contractor to build the 1,100-kilometre pipeline. According to the agreement, the contract will be awarded without any formal bidding process. The financing for the LNG pipeline comes as a prelude to Russia’s offer to sell LNG to Pakistan. Russia is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the world, and is seeking to diversify its export markets after a spat last year with the European Union, its main buyer, over Ukraine. “Pakistan and Russia have finalised an LNG pipeline deal in a recent meeting in Moscow and the two countries will sign a government-to-government basis deal next month,” Petroleum Minister Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “Russia will start its first LNG exports in 2016 and has also offered to sell gas to Pakistan.” This is not Islamabad’s first major cooperation agreement with Moscow over infrastructure. The former Soviet Union had financed the construction of the state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills under a similar arrangement. The Soviets had also helped supply some of the oil drilling equipment for the state-owned Oil and Gas Development Company. Some of that equipment is in use till date. Currently, Pakistan is working on two pipelines to transport re-gassified LNG from Karachi to the northern parts of the country. The first is a pipeline that will connect the Gwadar Port to the main natural gas pipeline hub in Nawabshah. The second will lay a direct pipeline from Karachi to Lahore. The government has signed an initial deal with China to award a $3 billion LNG terminal and pipeline project to a Chinese contractor in a similar financing-for-guaranteed-contract arrangement. Islamabad had initially offered Moscow and Beijing a similar arrangement for the Iran-Pakistan pipeline, but American and European sanctions against Tehran scuttled that project – at least for now. An LNG import terminal, owned and operated by the Engro Corporation, an industrial conglomerate, is already up and running, though there is, as yet, no agreement to import natural gas from Qatar, the third-largest natural gas producer in the world and closest to Pakistan. There is also no infrastructure yet that would allow that natural gas to be transported upcountry. “We are negotiating an LNG supply deal with Qatar which will be finalised soon,” Abbasi said. Pakistan’s existing pipeline network has the capacity to transport 320 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) in re-gassified LNG. Consumption in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as upper Sindh, however, exceeds 3,000 mmcfd, which is why the new pipelines are badly needed. In order to finance the payback of the loans needed to construct the pipelines, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has allowed the state-owned gas utilities, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGP) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), to start charging consumers more for their gas bills every month. SNGP and SSGC are expected to invest $750 million and $300 million respectively to finance the LNG pipeline. Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2015. ========================== California gas pipeline explosion, fire injure up to 15 people Sat, Apr 18 14:26 PM EDT image By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A construction crew on Friday accidentally ruptured a natural gas transmission line in Fresno, California, sparking an explosion and fire that injured up to 15 people, four of them critically, officials said. The 12-inch (30-cm) pipeline, belonging to Pacific Gas & Electric Corp (PCG.N), was struck by a backhoe near state Highway 99, unleashing a fireball that injured members of the construction team and a jail inmate crew nearby, Fresno Fire Department spokesman Peter Martinez said. The accident forced closure of the highway in both directions, along with an adjacent railroad line, Martinez said. Rail traffic was halted to check for possible damage to a railway bridge over a river, he said. One worker in critical condition was flown to hospital by helicopter, and 13 or 14 others were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment of injuries after the pipeline was ruptured at about 2:30 p.m., Martinez added. Four of the injured were taken to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, and two more were taken to the burn unit there, said hospital spokeswoman Mary Lisa Russell, adding that four were in critical condition and two serious. The utility had shut off the gas flow by 3:20 p.m., with the residual amount in the pipeline burning off just before 4 p.m., said PG&E spokesman Donald Cutler. A county public works equipment operator struck the natural gas line, said The Fresno Bee, citing Fresno County Administrative Officer John Navarrette. The employee, who was badly burned, was the patient airlifted to Community Regional Medical Center, the paper said, citing Navarrette. Inmates on a work detail were among the injured, it added, citing Sheriff Margaret Mims. The accident occurred at a shooting range used by law enforcement, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department told the newspaper. Fresno is about 190 miles (300 km) southeast of San Francisco. The California Public Utilities Commission sent a team to Fresno to investigate the explosion, spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said. "The CPUC will conduct a full investigation of the explosion and has already coordinated with the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration," Prosper said. A PG&E representative said the utility was also investigating. (Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Rory Carroll in San Francisco; Editing by Eric Beech, Sandra Maler and Clarence Fernandez) ======================= SPE Webinar Jan 2014 While remote parts of the world are awash with hundreds of trillions of cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas, the industrialized West and emerging economies of the East cannot get enough of the clean-burning, environmentally friendly fuel. The problem is transporting this compressible fluid long distances, across major bodies of water. For markets greater than 1,500 miles, liquefied natural gas (LNG) has proved to be the most economic option. By refrigerating natural gas (primarily methane) to -260ºF (-162ºC), thereby shrinking its volume by 600:1, LNG can be transported in large insulated cryogenic tankers at reasonable cost. Natural gas liquefaction is a series of refrigeration systems similar to the air conditioning system in our homes consisting of a compressor, condenser and evaporator to chill and condense the gas. The difference is in the scale and magnitude of the refrigeration. A typical single-train LNG plant may cost $5 billion and consume 6-8% of the inlet gas as fuel. Since many of the impurities (water vapor, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, etc.) and heavier hydrocarbon compounds in natural gas would freeze at LNG temperatures, they must first be removed, and disposed or marketed as separate products. This paper will provide an overview of LNG liquefaction facilities, from inlet gas receiving to LNG storage and loading. However, the focus is on the liquefaction process and equipment. Differences among the commercially available liquefaction processes (cascade, single mixed refrigerant, propane-pre-cooled mixed refrigerant, double mixed refrigerant, nitrogen, etc.) will be discussed. The aim is to provide SPE members with a clear understanding of the technologies, equipment and process choices required for a successful LNG project. ================ For further info: Contact: SAQLAIN92110@YAHOO>COM

Shortage of petrol hits alarming levels Ahmad Fraz Khan Published about 7 hours ago

LAHORE: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Saturday took strict notice of the fuel shortage in various parts of the country and suspended four officials concerned. After arriving from Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister called a meeting at the airport and took decisions to improve the situation on immediate basis. The four immediately suspended officers responsible for the crisis included Secretary Petroleum Abid Saeed, Additional Secretary Petroleum Naeem Malik, DG Oil C.M. Azam and Managing Director Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Amjid Janjua, said a press release. The provincial governments were directed to check sale of petrol in black and expedite its supply and delivery. ============================ Petrol crisis: Oil companies, govt trade accusations of culpability KARACHI / ISLAMABAD: Oil companies and government officials continued to trade accusations on Friday, with neither side willing to accept culpability for the sudden crunch in petrol supplies in the northern half of the country. Both sides agree on one fact: there was an unprecedented surge in demand for petrol after the government decided to reduce prices. At a press conference on Friday night, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that demand had surged by 25% after the 27% drop in oil prices from their peak in June 2014. Both sides also agree that the oil companies did not have the legally required 20 days’ worth of inventory to help deal with supply disruptions. But that is where the agreement ends. Government officials claimed that the lack of inventory was the sole reason for the petrol shortage. Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Chairman Saeed Ahmad Khan announced at a press conference on Friday that Ogra would be serving notices to oil companies for failing to meet the legally required levels of inventory. But industry officials point out that if inventory was the only issue, then there would also be a shortage of diesel and the shortages would be uniform across the country. “The industry cannot be blamed for this situation. There is no shortage of diesel anywhere and petrol is available at all the pumps in Sindh and Balochistan,” said Aftab Husain, CEO of Pakistan Refinery and head of the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), an industry group. Husain explained that one ship carrying 50,000 tons of oil products was delayed by a few days. “This, along with heavy fog in Punjab, hampered transportation and disrupted the supply chain,” he said. Diesel is transported through a cross-country pipeline originating at Port Qasim, whereas petrol is transported mostly through trucks going north from Karachi. Husain admitted that the oil industry often does not carry the full 20 days of required inventories, especially when prices are declining, but blamed government pricing policy for the situation. “Petroleum prices are revised once a month and whenever the price drops, we book a loss due to the reduced value of our petroleum stock,” he said. “Complete deregulation of prices is the answer. But whenever we talk about it everyone starts writing against us.” Ogra acknowledges the commercial difficulties faced by oil companies when prices are declining, but appears in no mood to accept this as an excuse for not complying with regulatory requirements, said the regulatory body’s chairman. However, even though he blamed the oil companies for the current crisis, Khan agreed with their stance that oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices should be deregulated. “In the beginning it will not be pleasant, but it will be good in the long run due to market competition,” said the Ogra chairman. Yet even though everyone agrees that the oil price drop resulted in an unprecedented surge in demand, the government is planning on decreasing prices even further. The petroleum minister announced at his press conference that prices could be reduced by more than Rs5 per litre in February. Abbasi also appeared to insist that the privately owned oil marketing companies were more responsible for the supply crunch than the state-owned PSO, even though PSO has a 65% share in the petrol market. Sales of petrol tend to rise particularly sharply on the first day of a government-mandated price cut. “Petrol sales hit 40,000 tons on January 1,” admitted the petroleum minister. The current crisis appears to have been worsened by the fact that alternatives to petrol – specifically compressed natural gas (CNG) – have largely been absent from the market due to a shutdown of gas supply to CNG stations in Punjab. Abbasi said that if the weather did not turn too cold, the government might consider reopening some of the supply of natural gas to CNG stations. Natural gas is the primary heating fuel in most of the affluent parts of urban Pakistan. Meanwhile, at a hearing at the Senate finance committee on Friday, Federal Finance Secretary Waqar Masood suggested that the current shortage is just the tip of the iceberg and that the country could be facing a rough six weeks before the crisis is fully resolved. Masood’s timeline is far longer than the 10 to 12 days promised by cabinet members during their speeches in the National Assembly on the same day. The finance secretary pointed out that there is a 45 day lag between when an oil company opens a letter of credit (LC) with a bank for oil imports and when the petrol is actually delivered to petrol pumps across the country. The finance ministry has released Rs17 billion to the state-owned PSO to handle its LC requirements, but admits the company needs Rs27 billion for this month alone. Masood admitted that the inter-corporate circular debt in the energy industry, caused in large part by government entities refusing to make the full payments they owe power companies, was at least partially the cause of the crisis. PSO has defaulted on at least Rs110 billion in LCs owed to its foreign suppliers. The finance secretary claimed that the government had been making timely payments of the subsidies it owes to power companies, which in turn owe PSO money for the fuel they use to generate electricity. However, he admitted that the finance ministry refused to pay amount related to the cost of theft, meaning that the power companies still do not have enough money to pay PSO. When the power companies fail to pay PSO on time, PSO defaults on its payments due to foreign suppliers, who then refuse to supply more fuel without payments made upfront in cash. The finance ministry has paid out Rs222 billion power subsidies so far this fiscal year, said Masood. The finance ministry has been urging the water and power ministry to crack down on electricity theft so that the circular debt problem can end once and for all. Sources told The Express Tribune that another reason for the supply crunch was Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s refusal to allow state-owned PSO to buy US dollars to make oil payments to its international supplies in December, because doing so would have reduced the country’s foreign exchange reserves below the $15 billion mark the minister was targeting. Despite hearing that the drop in oil prices was at least partially responsible for the sudden supply shortage, the Senate finance committee passed a resolution demanding that the government reduce domestic oil prices even further, to fully match the global price drop. Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2015. ============== By Zafar Bhutta / Saad Hasan / Shahbaz Rana / Photo: Shahbaz Malik Published: January 17, 2015 Customers throng a filling station in Lahore amid severe dearth of petrol. PHOTO: SHAHBAZ MALIK/EXPRESS KARACHI / ISLAMABAD: Oil companies and government officials continued to trade accusations on Friday, with neither side willing to accept culpability for the sudden crunch in petrol supplies in the northern half of the country. Both sides agree on one fact: there was an unprecedented surge in demand for petrol after the government decided to reduce prices. At a press conference on Friday night, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that demand had surged by 25% after the 27% drop in oil prices from their peak in June 2014. Both sides also agree that the oil companies did not have the legally required 20 days’ worth of inventory to help deal with supply disruptions. But that is where the agreement ends. Government officials claimed that the lack of inventory was the sole reason for the petrol shortage. Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Chairman Saeed Ahmad Khan announced at a press conference on Friday that Ogra would be serving notices to oil companies for failing to meet the legally required levels of inventory. But industry officials point out that if inventory was the only issue, then there would also be a shortage of diesel and the shortages would be uniform across the country. “The industry cannot be blamed for this situation. There is no shortage of diesel anywhere and petrol is available at all the pumps in Sindh and Balochistan,” said Aftab Husain, CEO of Pakistan Refinery and head of the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), an industry group. Husain explained that one ship carrying 50,000 tons of oil products was delayed by a few days. “This, along with heavy fog in Punjab, hampered transportation and disrupted the supply chain,” he said. Diesel is transported through a cross-country pipeline originating at Port Qasim, whereas petrol is transported mostly through trucks going north from Karachi. Husain admitted that the oil industry often does not carry the full 20 days of required inventories, especially when prices are declining, but blamed government pricing policy for the situation. “Petroleum prices are revised once a month and whenever the price drops, we book a loss due to the reduced value of our petroleum stock,” he said. “Complete deregulation of prices is the answer. But whenever we talk about it everyone starts writing against us.” Ogra acknowledges the commercial difficulties faced by oil companies when prices are declining, but appears in no mood to accept this as an excuse for not complying with regulatory requirements, said the regulatory body’s chairman. However, even though he blamed the oil companies for the current crisis, Khan agreed with their stance that oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices should be deregulated. “In the beginning it will not be pleasant, but it will be good in the long run due to market competition,” said the Ogra chairman. Yet even though everyone agrees that the oil price drop resulted in an unprecedented surge in demand, the government is planning on decreasing prices even further. The petroleum minister announced at his press conference that prices could be reduced by more than Rs5 per litre in February. Abbasi also appeared to insist that the privately owned oil marketing companies were more responsible for the supply crunch than the state-owned PSO, even though PSO has a 65% share in the petrol market. Sales of petrol tend to rise particularly sharply on the first day of a government-mandated price cut. “Petrol sales hit 40,000 tons on January 1,” admitted the petroleum minister. The current crisis appears to have been worsened by the fact that alternatives to petrol – specifically compressed natural gas (CNG) – have largely been absent from the market due to a shutdown of gas supply to CNG stations in Punjab. Abbasi said that if the weather did not turn too cold, the government might consider reopening some of the supply of natural gas to CNG stations. Natural gas is the primary heating fuel in most of the affluent parts of urban Pakistan. Meanwhile, at a hearing at the Senate finance committee on Friday, Federal Finance Secretary Waqar Masood suggested that the current shortage is just the tip of the iceberg and that the country could be facing a rough six weeks before the crisis is fully resolved. Masood’s timeline is far longer than the 10 to 12 days promised by cabinet members during their speeches in the National Assembly on the same day. The finance secretary pointed out that there is a 45 day lag between when an oil company opens a letter of credit (LC) with a bank for oil imports and when the petrol is actually delivered to petrol pumps across the country. The finance ministry has released Rs17 billion to the state-owned PSO to handle its LC requirements, but admits the company needs Rs27 billion for this month alone. Masood admitted that the inter-corporate circular debt in the energy industry, caused in large part by government entities refusing to make the full payments they owe power companies, was at least partially the cause of the crisis. PSO has defaulted on at least Rs110 billion in LCs owed to its foreign suppliers. The finance secretary claimed that the government had been making timely payments of the subsidies it owes to power companies, which in turn owe PSO money for the fuel they use to generate electricity. However, he admitted that the finance ministry refused to pay amount related to the cost of theft, meaning that the power companies still do not have enough money to pay PSO. When the power companies fail to pay PSO on time, PSO defaults on its payments due to foreign suppliers, who then refuse to supply more fuel without payments made upfront in cash. The finance ministry has paid out Rs222 billion power subsidies so far this fiscal year, said Masood. The finance ministry has been urging the water and power ministry to crack down on electricity theft so that the circular debt problem can end once and for all. Sources told The Express Tribune that another reason for the supply crunch was Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s refusal to allow state-owned PSO to buy US dollars to make oil payments to its international supplies in December, because doing so would have reduced the country’s foreign exchange reserves below the $15 billion mark the minister was targeting. Despite hearing that the drop in oil prices was at least partially responsible for the sudden supply shortage, the Senate finance committee passed a resolution demanding that the government reduce domestic oil prices even further, to fully match the global price drop. Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2015. ================== Schlumberger To Lay Off 9,000 Workers January 16, 2015 Oilfield services giant Schlumberger plans to cut 9,000 jobs as the global collapse in crude oil prices crimps production in 2015 and perhaps even longer. The cuts — nearly 8% of Schlumberger's 120,000 workers, were announced Thursday "to better align with anticipated activity levels for 2015,'' the company said. With production surging and waning growth, the world is awash with oil. That's led to a collapse in prices that's taken benchmark crude price down more than 50% since last June. Thursday, West Texas Intermediate fell 4.6% to $46.22 a barrel, while Brent crude slipped 2% to $47.67. Yet many forecasters say crude isn't close to bottoming. "In this uncertain environment, we continue to focus on what we can control,'' said CEO Paal Kibsgaard. "We have already taken a number of actions to restructure and resize our organization that have led us to record a number of charges in the fourth quarter. We are convinced that performance must now be driven by an accelerated change in the way we work through our transformation program." The layoffs come despite a relatively solid fourth-quarter earnings report in which the Houston-based Schlumberger increased revenue 6% to $12.6 billion and boosted earnings 11% to $1.94 billion. Schlumberger is also boosting its stock dividend 25%. Houston-based energy explorer Apache Corp. began laying off about 5% of its workers earlier this week. .. Read more: http://www.drillingahead.com/page/schlumberger-to-lay-off-9-000-workers?xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_page#ixzz3P4ZZEWC6 =========================== Ahmad Fraz Khan Published about 7 hours ago A petrol pump seen deserted due to the shortage petrol.— Online/File A petrol pump seen deserted due to the shortage petrol.— Online/File LAHORE: The country is left with oil stock of less than three days and its import has totally dried up as the Pakistan State Oil defaults on its payments and says it will need at least Rs100 billion and eight weeks’ time to retrieve the situation. According to PSO officials, no oil consignment has arrived at any port in the country for the past two weeks, whereas usually six to eight ships, each carrying 65,000 tons of oil, come to the country in a fortnight. “The company has exhausted all its overdraft (OD) facilities over the past few weeks. All its LCs (letters of credit) lines have been choked as its total receivables now run over Rs215bn,” a PSO official said, adding that the power sector owed Rs190bn and PIA Rs12.5bn. PSO defaults on its payments, needs Rs100 billion to retrieve situation The company’s default on its payments to a few local banks has made all others cautious; no bank is now ready to underwrite PSO’s LCs. Exporters are also not ready to trust the PSO with their commodity without hard cash or bank guarantees. “The piecemeal payments being made by the government cannot provide any relief to PSO given the size of default. On Thursday, the government released Rs17bn, but like all such previous payments, it went into retiring overdue drafts, making no impact on fresh imports. Also read: Petrol shortage continues for third consecutive day “The company needs at least Rs100bn immediately to set things right. Even if it gets the required money, it will need another two months to line up imports and re­store the supply line,” the official said. “Apart from the financial crisis, it is ad hocism at the top that has landed the PSO into this ditch,” said another official. “With the acting managing director sitting at the top of the company and being more interested in import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) — a new pastime of the PML-N — PSO has been sliding deep into crisis,” he said. “No one really knows how a bankrupt PSO will import LNG. Why has it not stopped supplies to the defaulting companies, be it IPPs (independent power producers) or the PIA? “Why did the PSO remain content on small payments of a few billion rupees over the past year or so, which made no difference to the import? “Why did other oil marketing companies (Shell, Total, Caltex), which are duty bound to keep stocks of at least two weeks, fail in their essential business obligation?” the official wondered. All these questions, he added, needed to be answered and should be made part of an investigation into how the company had stumbled into the current crisis. “The government is pressing local refineries to supply oil to the PSO on credit. If this happens, there may be some temporary relief in supplies in the days to come. But the situation will not improve in the long run unless the government arranges Rs100bn, and makes sure that the company gets regular payments from all its buyers,” the official said. Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2015 On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play