Earlier, we reported that the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) is going on a countrywide strike on Nov 25 tomorrow. And petrol pumps all over the country will remain closed. That means no petrol for the public, only for ambulances and Rescue 1122 vehicles.
The good news is that Pakistan State Oil (PSO), one of the petrol suppliers, has said that, amid the strike, all of their Company Owned, Company Operated (COCO) petrol pumps will be open and function normally.
PSO Company Owned Company Operated Petrol Stations
According to the PSO official website, there are 23 PSO COCO petrol stations in the country. And guess what? None of them is in Lahore. One is in Faisalabad, one in Hyderabad, two in Multan, one in Quetta, five in Rawalpindi, four in Peshawar, two in Sukkur, and seven in Karachi.
Here is the complete list of PSO COCO outlets that will remain open on Nov 25.
All petrol stations other than the mentioned above will be closed starting from Nov 25 until further notice.
The countrywide strike is about the petrol dealers’ low profit margins. PPDA wants the government to increase the dealers’ profit margin in petroleum sales from 2% to 6%. If not, they will keep the fuel stations closed and even demand the government to cancel their petrol pump licenses. With license cancellation, nearly 50% of petrol pumps will close down permanently as no one will reapply for acquisition.
Let’s see if the government fulfils the dealer’s association’s demands before the strike starts, and things go south.
That is a laudable move by the company, hopefully everyone from now on supports it. For my part, I shall always from now on Inshaa Allah buy petrol from the listed pumps.