OGRA directs oil companies to maintain 20-day reserves amid Iran-Israel conflict
Government officials and PSO have voiced concern over 'unfair competition' and the potential threat to G2G fuel supply deals. Photo: AFP
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The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has directed all Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to maintain fuel reserves to ensure uninterrupted supply across the country amid evolving market conditions following the Iran-Israel conflict.
In a statement issued on Saturday, OGRA spokesperson Imran Ghaznavi said all OMCs have been instructed to maintain the mandatory 20-day fuel reserves as required under their licensing terms.
"OGRA further emphasises that companies must fully comply with these conditions to ensure smooth fuel supply nationwide," the statement said.
Ghaznavi added that Pakistan currently has sufficient petroleum reserves to meet domestic demand.
"There are adequate petroleum stocks in the country to meet present consumption levels. OGRA is actively monitoring the situation and ensuring strict oversight to uphold national energy security," he said.
He further noted that proactive steps are being taken to address future energy requirements and respond to shifting market dynamics.
"OGRA remains committed to ensuring uninterrupted energy supply and strengthening national energy security," Ghaznavi affirmed.
Iran–Israel Conflict
The recent conflict between Iran and Israel has escalated into the most intense direct confrontation in their history, as both countries exchange large-scale strikes.
Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion' with a surprise attack on June 13, targeting Iranian military leadership, nuclear facilities, and ballistic missile production sites.
The operation resulted in the deaths of hundreds, including top Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists.
Also Read : Trump eyes Iran-Israel peace via Putin
In retaliation, Iran launched waves of drones and missiles at Israeli targets over the weekend, hitting both military bases and civilian infrastructure.
More than 24 people were killed in Israel, and dozens more were injured. Iranian authorities say more than 400 civillians, including women and children have been kllled in Israeli assault.
Among those killed in the Israeli strikes were the intelligence chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and two senior generals alongside Iran's eight nuclear scientists.
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There was a time that the US indulged in exporting liberal hegemony in the world with disregard to the power politics and the concept of balance of power, as the other two great powers, Russia and China, were weak. The US and its western allies were able to expand NATO eastwards only because of this slack in the international system of the time. If the US decision of NATO expansion seemed rational at that time, then from the Russian perspective, Russia's decision to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO under the changed international environment of multipolarity may also be considered rational. Professor Mearsheimer, famous realist scholar, professes the theory that all states are rational. But he also states that theories are simplifications of realities, and realities are complicated. Theories are utilised to navigate the world; and sometimes, depending on the prevailing international conditions and environment, theories may prove wrong. If in the unipolar moment the eastward expansion of NATO was a rational decision based on the realist theory of power maximisation then the Russian decision to fight war in Ukraine in the changed international environment may also be considered as a rational decision by a state acting on the realist logic of state survival and power maximisation. To answer the question of why China or Russia will not directly participate or join the war, even if the US intervenes in the war on behalf of Israel, is also based on realist logic. If the US intervenes in this war, it will not be able to fully pivot towards the Asia-Pacific to contain China. So, from the Chinese point of view, the involvement of the US and its allies in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East may go on forever, as that would prevent the US from deploying its assets against China to contain it. Russia also has no interest in dominating Eastern Europe or the whole of Europe. It did that when it was the Soviet Union and had the military capability with hundreds of deployed combat divisions in Eastern European countries. Today, Russia doesn't have that capability. So, the US and Western premise of portraying Russia and China as global threats is a myth. The US and China are two powers fueled by two different ideologies. The US ideology of liberal internationalism is on the wane as democracies all over the world are receding and autocracy, authoritarianism and nationalism are dominating the world politics. China's rise is based on the Confucian ideology of peaceful rise. But over time, China's economic capability is giving rise to its military capability based on the pure realistic logic of survival in an anarchic system. The US also took the same route in becoming the most powerful state. The classic security dilemma guides the US-China relationship in which the rise of a great power instills fear in the mind of the existing power, thus creating global concern and fear of war. Great powers never fight directly with each other. During the long bipolar period many proxy wars were fought, but the US and the Soviet Union never fought a direct war with each other. Great powers will continue to engage in security competition like both the Soviet Union and the US did during the Cold War, but to imagine that they will ever directly engage in a hot war is a wrong assumption. Lastly, both the Korean War and the Vietnam War proved costly for the US, as even without directly participating in the war, the Soviet Union and China ensured that the US was not able to achieve its political objectives in these wars. Iran can rest assured that Russia and China, without directly participating in the war, will ensure that its sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected. Iran will pay a cost in engaging in this war, but it will not be the regime change or discontinuity of uranium enrichment for its civil nuclear energy.
