Following a formal guarantee from the federal government, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has decided to postpone its planned nationwide strike of petrol stations for two days.
Petrol pumps strike postponed: After the PPDA called for a strike to demand an increase in the dealers’ margin, State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik and the PPDA delegation held negotiations at the PSO headquarters.
The negotiations stalled because the oil traders rejected the state minister’s suggestion to raise the margin by Rs2.65 per litre and instead demanded a Rs5 per litre increase.
The state minister established a commission to examine the dealers’ margin following the breakdown of the discussions. Within 48 hours, the committee will decide on the dealers’ margin.
After two days, Musadik Malik and the PPDA will have another round of negotiations. Further, After examining the committee’s recommendations, the dealers will reveal their next course of action.
After petroleum dealers planned a nationwide strike on Saturday, State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik made an urgent trip to Karachi and arrived at Pakistan State Oil (PSO) headquarters.
The team discussed measures to reduce the smuggling of petrol and diesel from Iran and to boost dealer margins with the state minister.
Malik gave the dealers a margin rise of Rs2.65 per litre during the negotiations, but the dealers insisted on a commission increase of Rs5 per litre. The discussions went on for another hour and a half, but so far without success.
The dealers’ margin on petroleum goods is already Rs. 6 per litre, but they asked for a further increase of Rs.
As OMC’s margins grew from Rs3 and Rs3.68 per litre on petrol and HSD to Rs6 per litre in November 2022, the dealers’ commission had been raised by more than 25% to Rs7 per litre.