Petrol pump owners announce nationwide strike after talks with govt over daily pricing fail

Petrol pump owners in Pakistan have announced a nationwide strike after talks with the government over daily petroleum pricing ended without an agreement, according to Dawn Home.

The All Pakistan Petrol Pumps Owners Association (APPPOA) said on Tuesday that it would begin an indefinite strike from midnight Wednesday, which it said could shut about 15,000 petrol pumps across the country on Thursday. The announcement came after an hour-long meeting with a government team led by Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik.

APPPOA representatives said the discussions over the new daily fuel pricing mechanism did not produce a compromise. Association leaders described the move as unacceptable and said they viewed the issue as one of survival for small fuel retailers.

Vice Chairman Nauman Ali Butt said the group wanted fuel prices to continue being set on a monthly basis, arguing that daily revisions were impractical for dealers. He also said a demand to raise dealer commission had been pending for three years.

Chairman Humayun Khan said petrol pump owners were already under pressure from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, oil marketing companies and government policies. He said the daily pricing system had added confusion and hurt businesses that already operate on narrow margins. Khan also said the new arrangement could benefit oil marketing companies, which he said might delay deliveries when prices fall and use advance billing to book supplies.

Khan criticised the government for taking a major decision without consulting the businesses affected by it. He said the association wanted the policy reconsidered, dealer commissions increased and petrol pump owners included in future policy talks.

Separately, the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association said it would decide on Wednesday whether to join a strike after meeting its executive body. Senior adviser Malik Khuda Bukhsh told Dawn that daily pricing was not workable. He said the Petroleum Division had described talks with the PPDA as successful, but the association said its concerns remained unresolved.

According to Khuda Bukhsh, the PPDA later met officials from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, where the dealers raised their objections. He said Ogra acknowledged that the daily pricing decision had been taken too quickly and asked for seven days to relay the concerns to the government.

The Petroleum Division said the minister had briefed the PPDA on the shift from weekly to daily price announcements, saying the new formula would still rely on a seven-day rolling average of international prices. It said the change was intended to improve transparency and better reflect global price movements.

This report is based on a monitored public feed. Source: Dawn Home - https://www.dawn.com/news/2017314/petrol-pump-owners-announce-nationwide-strike-after-talks-with-govt-over-daily-pricing-fail