VZCZCXRO8232
PP RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #3693/01 3291424
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 241424Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0366
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0680
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 6410
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 5264
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 4080
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 9456

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 003693 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL: 11/21/08 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EAID EFIN ENGY EPET ELTN PK
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN PETROLEUM RESERVES DANGEROUSLY LOW 
 
Classified by: Ambassador for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (S) Summary. Pakistan may be facing a crude oil shortage in the 
near term but the extent of this shortfall cannot be confirmed. 
Based on numerous conversations with government officials and 
businesses operating in Pakistan, Post has compiled information 
regarding a circular debt problem with domestic energy companies and 
refineries emanating from the Government of Pakistan's (GOP) reduced 
foreign reserves.  While a best case scenario would be only a minor 
lag in refinery production, another worst case scenario forecasts a 
severe shortfall in December which may impact Pakistan's overall 
industrial output, domestic utilization and resupply efforts to ISAF 
forces in Afghanistan.  Post will continue to monitor the situation 
carefully and take any precautionary efforts possible to ensure 
Embassy functionality.  End Summary. 
 
--- --------- --------- -------- ------- -------- ------- STRATEGIC 
RESERVES LOW FOR CRUDE OIL- BUT UNCLEAR HOW LOW 
------------ ------------ ------------- --------- ------- 
 
¶2. (S) Post has contacted numerous officials in both the government 
and private sector to piece together the following information 
regarding alleged shortfalls in Pakistan's overall strategic oil 
reserves.  Due to a very uncharacteristic "closed mouth policy" 
Pakistani officials are reluctant to discuss the specifics of the 
fuel shortfall and Post has not been able to verify the overall 
severity of the problem but will continue to monitor the situation 
over the coming days.  In a best case scenario, Pakistan will receive 
sufficient supplies of crude oil during the week of November 24 to 
allow domestic refineries to meet demand with only a minor lag in 
their production flows.  In a worst case scenario, some government 
officials who monitor the country's reserve levels think that 
Pakistan could be facing a severe shortfall of crude oil during the 
first two weeks of December which could result in rationing and 
serious petroleum shortages. 
 
¶3. (S) The Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), which represents 
all of Pakistan's oil companies, requires government approval for oil 
imports.  In the past few months, the government has restricted crude 
and refined product imports in an attempt to preserve its foreign 
exchange reserves which stood at USD 3.337 billion on November 18. 
Post was able to obtain a copy of the OCAC "daily stock position" for 
November 20 which provides that as of that date, Pakistan's 
refineries had a combined stock of 8 days of petroleum, 11 days of 
furnace oil, 16 days of jet fuel and 19 days each of high speed 
diesel and light speed diesel. Post has not been able to obtain 
another copy of this highly restricted document since November 20 and 
is unable to verify how much the combined refinery stocks have 
increased or depleted since then. 
 
¶4. (S) Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Deputy Director 
Jabar (protect source) confirmed to EconOff on November 19 that due 
to Pakistan's deteriorating credit rating, which was reduced to CCC 
by S&P on November 14, the government is facing difficulties buying 
crude oil.  According to Jabar, Pakistan is facing severe problems 
clearing letters of credit, and the crude reserves are "significantly 
less than" the 10-day reserve requirement.  The GOP reduced the 
strategic reserve requirement from 21 to 10 days in October in order 
to boost foreign exchange reserves (reftel). 
 
¶5. (S) Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Acting Secretary 
¶G. A. Sabri confirmed to EconOff on November 24 that Pakistan is 
experiencing difficulties with letters of credit.  He said that the 
problem was taking up much of their time and attention as well as 
costing money, but he denied that the problem had resulted in a 
shortfall.  Sabri also confirmed that a vessel carrying crude oil had 
been turned around from the Port of Karachi due to "administrative 
reasons" but would not provide any further details on this specific 
issue.  He requested USG intervention to improve Pakistan's credit 
rating, believing that this would solve the LOC issue. 
 
6 (S) Salman Farruqui, Deputy Planning Commission, claimed that there 
is no fuel shortage but would not provide specific comments in a 
meeting with EconCounselor.  Farruqui did provide that due to the 
pending agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the 
government was unable to make timely fuel purchases but quickly noted 
that payments were now being made to companies. (Note: Pakistan will 
receive USD 3 billion from the IMF on or about November 28 if the IMF 
executive board approves the agreement on November 24. End Note.) 
 
¶7. (C) Kaleem Ahmed Sadique, Managing Director of Pakistan State Oil 
 
ISLAMABAD 00003693  002 OF 003 
 
 
(PSO), the largest oil company in the country told EconOff on 
November 24 that circular debt is preventing PSO from making its 
payments to refineries.   Sadique said that refineries are running at 
45 percent capacity because of normal to low crude reserves. 
According to him, independent power producers, the Water and Power 
Development Authority (WAPDA) and Pakistan International Airlines 
(PIA) together owe PSO PKR 76 billion (USD 950 million). 
 
¶8. (C) EconCounselor spoke with Haroun Khawaja, CEO of AES Pakistan 
who confirmed that they are concerned about their ability to continue 
purchasing from Pakistan State Oil due to the drop in strategic 
reserves.  Khawaja stated that no Letter of Credit for private 
Pakistani banks are being accepted due to the overall credit rating 
and all orders for crude oil on the international market must be paid 
for in advance.  In a separate conversation with EconOff, AES's Chief 
Financial Officer Nazir Chanda said that AES was receiving PKR 100 to 
200 million per week (USD (1.25 million to 2.5 million), which was 
not enough to cover AES fuel purchases for their 2 plants.  CEO 
Haroon Khawaja later told EconCounselor that the AES plants had 3 
hours of furnace oil supply on hand and was arranging several 
deliveries from PSO per day. 
 
----------------------------- 
IMPACT ON EMBASSY OPERATIONS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) The U.S. Mission uses diesel fuel for its emergency generators 
and many of its official vehicles, and gasoline for its other 
official vehicles.  Embassy Islamabad and its constituent posts in 
Karachi, Peshawar, and Lahore have been topping off their fuel tanks 
in anticipation of tightened fuel supplies.  Embassy Islamabad has 
fuel reserves on the Chancery compound that should last for five 
days' worth of routine consumption.  That reserve could last less 
than five days if Islamabad were to have particularly severe periods 
of electrical load shedding, which would significantly increase the 
use of the Embassy's backup generators for offices and residences. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Embassy has begun working to arrange for fabrication of 
supplementary fuel tanks for its off-compound residences.  Those 
supplementary tanks will significantly increase the reserves at each 
residence, increase the number of hours the generators can run 
without refueling, and extend the time between fuel deliveries. 
 
---------------------    -------------------- 
IMPACT ON RESUPPLY FOR TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN 
----------------  --------------------------- 
 
¶11. (C) Forty percent of the fuel for ISAF forces in Afghanistan 
comes from Pakistan and is supplied through private contracts.  On 
average 180,000 gallons of fuel is delivered from Pakistan on a daily 
basis via 18 fuel tankers crossing the Torkam border.  The Embassy 
representative for the Defense Energy Support Center Middle East has 
checked with their two suppliers to verify the level of individual 
stocks in order to determine what impact these potentially low levels 
will have on ISAF refueling in Afghanistan.  Each supplier reports 
that the refineries quotas for November and December will be 
fulfilled; however given the lack of public awareness on this issue 
it is unclear to what extent the refineries are willing to arouse 
concern among their clients. 
 
-------------------------- 
IMPACT ON DOMESTIC ECONOMY 
--------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Approximately 95 percent of the cars in Pakistan use 
compressed natural gas, however low crude reserve levels will impact 
the transit of goods, industrial manufacturing as well as the fuel 
used for generators across the country.  Ahmed Shiekh Tarvir, 
President of the Federated Chambers of Commerce and Industry 
confirmed that industry is seeing a depletion in petroleum stocks 
which would impact Pakistan's overall industrial production. 
 
¶13. (SBU) According to media reports, airlines including Pakistani 
International Airways (PIA) are also facing jet fuel shortages due to 
reduced production by oil refineries.   According to one media 
report, Shell issued a warning letter to the Civil Aviation Authority 
advising them to make alternative arrangements for jet fuel due to 
potential depletion of Shell's stocks.  The former CEO of PIA, Tariq 
Kirmani relayed to EconOff that Shell is reportedly stopping their 
supply of jet fuel to PIA due to the vast outstanding debt which is 
owed to Shell.  PIA has extra flights on its upcoming schedule due to 
 
ISLAMABAD 00003693  003 OF 003 
 
 
an increase in travelers going on the Haj in early December. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶14. (S) The severity of Pakistan's fuel shortfall is simply unclear. 
Post has received information from a variety of sources and pieced 
together information which leads the Embassy to think that unless 
payment is soon made to the independent power producers the overall 
energy production in Pakistan will be reduced and thus the continuing 
blackouts will be more severe. Whether the USD 3 billion IMF money 
can be used for payment to the energy companies or will be parked in 
the State Bank of Pakistan to shore foreign reserves and the 
country's overall credit rating remains to be seen.  Post will 
continue to monitor the situation and report further developments 
septel. 
 
PATTERSON