ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Energy’s Directorate General (Oil) has asked the refineries to justify or deposit an amount of Rs1307.578 million pointed out by the audit into the government’s relevant account immediately.
In a letter with subject Audit & Inspection Report in Respect of Compliance with Authority Audit of Non-Tax Receipts Maintained by (PARCO, BYCO, NRL, PRL) Karachi for the Financial Year 2021-22 (Audit Year 2022-23) on November 14, 2022, Directorate General (Oil) (Petroleum Division-Policy Wing) of Ministry of Energy has requested to justify the position or deposit the amount pointed out by Audit into Government relevant account immediately and get verified the same from Audit Office Karachi under intimation to this office.
According to the paras of the Audit and Inspection Report, the refineries have not paid the discount retained on local crude oil price worth Rs 285.383 million. Similarly, the refineries did not pay windfall levy retained on local crude oil worth Rs 1022.195 million.
When contacted with Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), he said this is a very routine audit observation made every year. He said that normally refineries pay the retained windfall levy etc after a lag of 1-2 months. He said this retained money has already been paid back to the government and challans have been shared. For PRL, the amount was only Rs 3.2 million which has already been paid, said Zahid Mir, MD & CEO, PRL.
He added that the outstanding amount relating to PRL Rs 3.2 million paid subsequently while no outstanding amount is pending relating to PRL.
Sources in the oil industry said that BYCO is not getting local crude oil so non-payment of discount retained on local crude oil prices and non-payment of windfall levy retained on local crude oil prices is out of the question.
It is relevant to note here that no one from Pak Arab Refinery Company Limited (PARCO) has appeared to respond despite repeated efforts. Moreover, National Refinery Limited (NRL) was approached and all efforts to obtain official words remained in vain as no one appeared to respond.
