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Govt revokes tender for supply of low sulphur HSD

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has revoked its tender issued to invite bids for the supply of low sulphur HSD or oil gas the first quarter of the next fiscal.

The ministry, had floated international tenders to purchase HSD, containing minimum sulphur i.e. 0.5 percent per litre as against earlier imports containing one percent sulphur. The move was ostensibly made to supply cleaner fuel to the consumers. But its impact on the country's import bill would run into millions of dollars, the authorities later realised.

Informed sources said that the Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) which usually offers the lowest bid for the supply of petroleum products to Pakistan, did not respond to the tender issued two months back.

The KPC, has upgraded its refining concerns to produce environmentally good HSD which contains only 0.5 percent sulphur. The company is stated to be unable to ensure the supply of 425,000 tonnes of gas oil to Pakistan since it is over-committed for quite some time.

The KPC meets about 70 percent import needs of the country's petroleum products and enjoys good relationship with the Petroleum Ministry.

The ministry's decision for abrupt switching to low sulphur petroleum product came under acute criticism from some quarters since there was no urgency to import costlier products in view of the long prevailing economic impasse in the country. The Ministry, it was said, was being over-enthusiastic about environment whereas its earlier environment-friendly programmes were moving at a snail's pace.

They said the Ministry could not achieve its repeatedly set targets of converting 200,000 vehicles on to compressed natural gas (CNG) during the last year. The CNG is more friendly to environment as compared with HSD, even if it carries 0.5 percent sulphur, they said.