LAHORE: Since August 17, 2018, or the day when the incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan was sworn in as the country’s 22nd head of government, petrol price in the country has surged from Rs95.24 per litre to Rs147.83 per litre on January 15, 2022, meaning thereby that there has been an increase of Rs52.59 in the per litre tariff of this commodity or a hike of 55.22 per cent during the last 41 months.
During the last 10 years or 120 months between January 16, 2012 and January 16, 2022 or the period when PPP, PML-N and PTI had all called shots, the petrol price in Pakistan has surged by 65 per cent from Rs89.54 per litre to Rs147.83 per litre currently, research conducted by the Jang Group and Geo Television Network shows.
It was during the PPP government that the price of petrol in Pakistan had shot up to Rs108.45 per litre on September 24, 2012, coming down to Rs101.42 per litre by December 22, 2012, the tariff plunged to Rs99.70 by June 21, 2013 after experiencing a few ups and downs during Nawaz Sharif’s first few months in power, soaring to Rs109.13 on September 1, 2013 during the PML-N government, rising further to Rs112.76 by January 1, 2014, nose-diving sharply to Rs70.29 by March 1, 2015, again dipping sharply to Rs62.77 by March 2016, the price rose up to Rs73 by March 2017, it was Rs81.53 per litre by January 1, 2018, Rs99.50 by July 2018, coming down to Rs95.24 per litre in August 2018 when the PTI held reins of the country.
It is pertinent to mention here that the oil priced have seen a sharp increase in the last 10 years and it is predicted that the price would keep rising this year. It was predicted that the commodity price may cross $100 per barrel in the international market. The petroleum prices in Pakistan also depend on prices in the international market.
Here follow a few vital facts about Pakistan’s proven oil reserves, its oil consumption, production and imports:
By September 2021, Pakistan had imported 785,000 tonnes of fuel oil through tenders, up 52 per cent from what it had bought from the global market in 2020.
According to the archives of United States Energy Information Administration, Messrs British Petroleum and Pakistan State Oil, Pakistan’s oil consumption had rested at 556,000 barrels per day in 2016, while its production of crude oil was at the level of 83,000 barrels per day during that year.
Pakistan ranks 33rd in the world for oil consumption, accounting for about 0.6pc of the world’s total consumption of 97,103,871 barrels per day.
Pakistan consumed about 0.11 gallons of oil per capita every day (based on the 2016 population of 203,631,353 people), or 42 gallons per capita every year. With proven oil reserves of 353,500,000 barrels about five years ago, Pakistan was ranked 52nd in the world.
In terms of oil output, the country’s global ranking stood at 53 by producing 88,262 barrels per day. There was daily deficit of 467,738 barrels, which thus meant that the country had to import 135,201 barrels of this energy component to balance the demand and supply sides.
It goes without saying that OPEC, CIA World Fact Book and global oil companies keep giving different statistics. Hence, what is reliable for some is disputed and controversial for others.
In 2016, some of these above-mentioned sources said Pakistan has proven reserves equivalent to 1.7 times its annual consumption, asserting that without imports, there would be about two years of oil left in the country’s storage sites and wells.
According to the United States Energy Information Administration and British Petroleum, there were 1.65 trillion barrels of proven oil reserves in the world by end of 2016, adding that these reserves were equivalent to 46.6 times its annual consumption levels.
These sources had claimed that the world only had about 47 years of oil left at the 2016 consumption levels, excluding any unproven reserves.
Proven reserves are those quantities of petroleum which, by analysis of geological and engineering data can be estimated with a high degree of confidence and are commercially recoverable from known reservoirs.
Research further revealed that that till the filing of this story on January 16, 2022, the world was left with 14, 50,185,000 barrels of oil. The world had consumed 35,442,913,090 barrels till 2016, equivalent to 97,103,871 barrels per day.
Global oil consumption per capita was five barrels or 199 gallons per capita the year under review. Venezuela currently has the largest proven oil reserves of 299.953 billion barrels or 18.2 per cent of world share, followed by Saudi Arabia that has reserves of 266.578 billion barrels or 16.2 pc of world share, Canada (170.863 billion barrels or 10.4 pc share), Iran (157.530 billion barrels or 9.5pc share), Iraq (143.069 billion barrels or 8.7pc share), Kuwait (101.500 billion barrels or 6.1pc share), UAE (97.8 billion barrels or 5.9pc share), Russia on 8th position with 80 billion barrels or 4.8pc share), Libya is at number 9 with 48.363 billion barrels or 2.9pc share), and Nigeria occupies 10th rank with reserves to the tune of 37,070 billion barrels or a 2.2pc international share).
As stated above, Pakistan stands at 52nd rank with 353,500,000 barrels or 0.021 pc global share, United States holds 11th rank with 35.230 billion barrels or 2.1pc share), India is perched on 24th rank with 4,728,790,000 barrels or 0.29pc share, the United Kingdom is on 30th position with 2,754,685,000 barrels or 0.17pc share.
The "Encyclopedia Britannica" states: “Petroleum is not distributed evenly around the world. Slightly less than half of the world’s proven reserves are located in the Middle East (including Iran but not North Africa). Following the Middle East are Canada, United States, Latin America, Africa and the region made up of Russia, Kazakhstan, and other countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. The amount of oil and natural gas a given region produces is not always proportionate to the size of its proven reserves.”
The widely-cited knowledge resource adds: “Two overriding principles apply to world petroleum products. First, most petroleum is contained in a few large fields, but most fields are small. Second, as exploration progresses, the average size of the fields discovered decreases, as does the amount of petroleum found per unit of exploratory drilling. In any region, the large fields are usually discovered first. Since the construction of the first oil well in 1859, some 50,000 oil fields have been discovered. More than 90 percent of these fields are insignificant in their impact on world oil production.”
