ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of approximately Rs240 billion annual loss to the national exchequer owing to smuggling of petroleum products and its shortage in many areas of Balochistan, President Arif Alvi has summoned a high-level meeting on 13th September 2021.
President Secretariat, in a letter dated 25th August 2021, said that a meeting chaired by the President will be held on 13th September 2021 at Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad to discuss the shortage of petroleum products in many areas of Baluchistan, smuggling of petroleum products and precautions being taken by Ministry of Petroleum to curb these trends and their future plans.
According to the letter, Chief Minister (CM) Baluchistan Mir Jam Kamal, Federal Minister (FM) for Energy Hammad Azhar, Chief Secretary, Baluchistan, Secretary Petroleum, Secretary Energy, Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Chairman, Director General (DG) Oil, Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), relevant officials of Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of five Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) named as PSO, Shell, Total, GO, Byco, etc. are asked to attend this important meeting scheduled to be held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, Islamabad. And, to get confirmation from the said invited participants, the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), being the concerned ministry, is tasked to coordinate with the said participants and share a confirmed list of the participants of the meeting with the President.
According to sources, this meeting is likely to issue directions to OMCs to enhance the supply of petroleum products in Baluchistan while this meeting is also expected to order OGRA to act against all those who are involved in the sale of smuggled petrol and diesel in the country.
Sources also said that an inquiry commission of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on petroleum shortage was earlier formed during the last year to investigate the petroleum shortage in June 2020. Moreover, this inquiry commission had pointed out irreparable loss to the national exchequer due to smuggling of petroleum products and recommended action against those responsible for the loss. Upon this, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan ordered strict action against the smuggling of petroleum products. Following the orders of PM, many areas of Baluchistan are faced with a shortage of petroleum products because smuggling of petroleum products from Iran have declined.
As per details, Pakistan is losing around Rs240bn per annum on account of sales tax and petroleum levy owing to the smuggling of petrol, diesel through the Taftan border of Baluchistan province.
Currently, the government is charging Rs36.27 per litre on account of petroleum levy, custom duty etc on each litre of petrol and Rs47.22 per litre on High-Speed Diesel (HSD).
Customs Department had taken hold of seven crore, forty-six lakh litre of smuggled petrol and forty-three crore and forty lakh litres of smuggled diesel during 2019-20 while total annual loss due to smuggling of petroleum products was roughly Rs48bn as no tax, levy, duty etc is collected from the smuggled products.
