ISLAMABAD: The country’s two major petroleum stakeholders — the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and all five oil refineries — are at loggerheads, with both sides accusing each other of failing to fulfil their operational and regulatory responsibilities, resulting in foreign exchange losses.

At the centre of the issue is the insufficient capacity utilisation of refineries due to unchecked imports of refined products, despite collective decisions taken by the oil industry, the regulator and the government. Interestingly, under the law, no oil import can take place without regulatory clearance.

Both the refineries and the regulator accuse each other of misrepresenting their joint decisions during implementation and shifting blame regarding the upliftment of local refinery products by oil marketing companies. Ogra suggests additional agreements between refineries and oil companies, but refineries argue that such agreements hold no value if the regulator fails to fulfil its regulatory role.

In a communication to Ogra and the government, the chief executives of all five local refineries — Parco, Attock, Cnergyico, National Refinery and Pakistan Refinery —........

© Dawn Business