ISLAMABAD - Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources (MP&NR), in a letter to the Prime Minister (PM) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, has immediately sought grant of Rs 12 billion on daily basis to save cash-starved Pakistan State Oil (PSO) from bankruptcy, which is expected within a week if amount not provided.

Well-placed sources aware of the matter informed TheNation that the MP &NR had sent a letter to the newly-elected Premier on the advice of Advisor to PM on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain. In the letter it had been requested to the PM to grant Rs 50 billion to the PSO on immediate basis. If this amount is not provided to the PSO then the PSO will face bankruptcy within seven days because the circular debt of the PSO has crossed the alarming figure of Rs 500 billion. Viewing present situation, Rs 12 billion on daily basis is needed for PSO.
It was also learn that owing to the bankruptcy of the PSO, the supply of furnace oil to the power sector would witness a decrease by 20 tons, which would also cause a decline in the power generation by 5,000MW. Currently, PSO is supplying 28,000 tons on daily basis to the power sector. Besides, supply of petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) products in the country would also be disturbed horribly. Consequently, PSO would not purchase POL products from the international oil market.
It is worth mentioning here that financial matters leading to the bankruptcy of the PSO have now met with a worse situation owing to the disapproval of Law Ministry over floating the term finance certificates (TFCs) of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).