Petroleum dealers demand commission hike, threaten countrywide petrol pump shutdown

The petroleum dealers have issued a formal threat to initiate a nationwide strike in their pursuit of an increase in commission rates from the government.

The petroleum dealers have expressed their intention to cease operations at petrol pumps throughout the entire country, while simultaneously demanding that the government reinstate a 5 per cent profit margin.

Abdul Sami Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA), emphasised that they are unable to sustain the sale of petroleum products at the current commission rates for dealers.

Khan further announced the urgent convening of a meeting in Lahore on July 12th, with the purpose of addressing these concerns. He asserted that the sale of petroleum products has experienced a significant decline of 40 per cent due to the prevalence of smuggled petrol and diesel in the nation.

In the previous year, the dealers had demanded that the dealer’s margin be fixed at 6 per cent and had issued a similar nationwide strike threat.

Earlier, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) had written a formal letter to the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), requesting the federal government to establish OMC’s margin for petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) at Rs12 per litre.

It has come to light that the dealers’ commission had experienced a notable increase of over 25 per cent to Rs7 per litre in 2022. According to ARY News, this increase coincided with the adjustment of OMC’s margins from Rs3 and Rs3.68 per litre on petrol and HSD, respectively, to Rs6 per litre in November 2022.