Sudden Fuel Sales Raise Red Flags
Around 500 petrol pumps across Pakistan have come under investigation after they allegedly claimed billions of rupees through suspicious fuel subsidy requests. The issue surfaced after several inactive or closed petrol pumps suddenly reported large petrol sales following the government’s fuel subsidy announcement.
According to initial findings by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, many of these petrol pumps had remained inactive for most of the year. Some stations had little or no recorded fuel sales for several months. However, after the government announced the Price Differential Subsidy, these pumps suddenly claimed that they had sold thousands of litres of petrol in March and April.
The unusual pattern raised serious concerns within OGRA. Officials said the claims appeared suspicious because several stations that had shown almost no business activity suddenly reported major fuel sales during the subsidy period.
Subsidy Claims Linked to US-Iran Conflict
The government had introduced the Price Differential Subsidy during the US-Iran conflict. The scheme was aimed at supporting oil marketing companies and petrol pumps after changes in regional oil prices created pressure on the fuel market.
However, OGRA received unusually high subsidy claims from petrol pumps that were previously inactive. This prompted the regulator to begin a detailed review of the submitted claims.
Officials said the main concern was the sudden rise in reported sales. Petrol pumps that had not been operating regularly claimed large fuel volumes soon after the subsidy became available. OGRA is now checking whether the reported sales were genuine or created only to obtain subsidy payments.
Electricity Bills Sought for Verification
As part of the investigation, OGRA asked the owners of the suspected petrol pumps to submit electricity bills for the past 18 months. The regulator wanted to verify whether these fuel stations had been operating regularly before the subsidy period.
Electricity records can help show whether a petrol pump was active, partially active, or completely closed. Officials believe that regular electricity use would support a pump owner’s claim that the station was operational.
However, many petrol pump owners failed to provide the requested electricity bills. Instead, they claimed that their stations were running entirely on solar power. This response has become another point of scrutiny in the investigation.
OGRA said all subsidy claims are being checked carefully. The regulator has made it clear that only verified and genuine claims will be approved. Suspicious payments will not be allowed.
Officials said the government wants to protect public money and prevent losses to the national treasury. They added that legal action will be taken against petrol pump owners or operators if irregularities are proved.
The investigation is expected to determine whether the subsidy claims were based on real fuel sales or whether inactive stations were used to claim government funds through fake records.
