ISLAMABAD: The first signs of a showdown between the police and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in Lahore, combined with the rumours related to strict security measures ahead of Independence Day, triggered ‘panic buying’ of petrol in the twin cities on Friday evening.

On Thursday, the deputy commissioner office also extended the imposition of Section 144 for another two months. This directive was previously given in anticipation of Dr Tahirul Qadri arrival in Rawalpindi in June.

Within moments, social networks were abuzz with information and gossip that the authorities had decided to cut the fuel supply for the federal capital from Saturday.

“The long queues started to appear at fuel stations in Islamabad late in the afternoon on Friday. By evening, these serpent-like lines had even blocked the roads,” said Abid Hayat, a senior Petroleum Dealers Association of Pakistan member.

Some petrol stations run dry as people queue up to fill up their vehicles amid rumours of fuel shortage

Petroleum dealers attribute the frenzy purchase as ‘panic buying’; some of the pumps even went dry as they were not prepared for the sudden jack in petrol demand.

There are around 100 petrol pumps in the twin cities and the buying rush that started in the federal capital soon engulfed the garrison city too.

At the same time, customers had their own set of woes. Some were upset for getting only a limited amount of fuel as some pumps had imposed a sale quota – five litres per motorcycle and 10 litres per vehicle – to accommodate all customers in the queue.

Some of the buyers even remained in the line for up to three hours – something which is usually seen only at CNG filling stations.

Many motorists were eager to get petrol because they failed to get CNG too, and that was because the gas supply to stations was disconnected after midnight by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines.

Many pumps not only witnessed separate queues for cars and motorcycles, but a special line had to be established for pedestrians who wanted to buy petrol in cans and bottles.

The situation became serious for the pump owners too as fear of running out of petrol became more serious amid limited supply from oil companies.

“We wanted to have two tankers, but the oil company supplied only one,” said Raja Wasim, a petrol pump owner in Sitara Market Islamabad. “The usual sale is between 5,000 and 10,000 litres daily, but it went to almost 20,000 litres on Friday.”

The oil companies are under stress too as there are fears that even the Sihala oil depot could empty out by late Friday night.

“Petrol sale has jacked by almost 40 per cent in the first seven days of August this year, compared to August last year,” said an official of Pakistan State Oil (PSO). “But the surge in demand is coming from Punjab, which shows that it is an impact of political rattling.”

An official of Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) said initial figures of collective petrol sales by all oil marketing companies (OMCs) from Machike depots increased to 1.7 million litres by late Friday night, compared to the average normal sale of 900,000 litres daily.

“The increase in sale is even more than what was witnessed during the Eid days,” the official added.

Published in Dawn, Aug 9th, 2014