Power breakdown triggers panic buying of petrol.

LAHORE -- As the shortages loom large, panic buying of petrol started in various cities across the country on Monday as long queues emerged at most of the pumping stations and the situation got frightening by evening when 12 hours of national breakdown send half of the fuel stations offline.

The petroleum dealers in Lahore explained the enervating condition saying that the national power breakdown only exposed dangers, which had been lurking just under the surface for the last more than three weeks.

'The smaller oil marketing companies (OMCs) had stopped importing crude oil as the paucity of dollars delayed opening of letters of credit (LCs) and slowly squeezed the process completely,' narrates Kh. Atif Ahmad, Secretary Information of the Petroleum Dealers Association. It shifted the entire load to Pakistan State Oil (PSO), which was slowly sinking into its financial woes.

Of late, smaller OMCs came under official scrutiny for their behaviour and completely...