Pakistan’s fuel compensation mechanism has come under sharper scrutiny after the Federal Investigation Agency moved to examine whether some oil marketing companies made irregular price differential claims on old petroleum stocks. Recent reporting says the issue is tied to broader concerns over hoarding, inventory reporting and whether companies may have sought compensation on volumes that did not qualify under the intended framework.
The case matters because the money involved is not small. Business Recorder reported that OGRA had already processed about Rs38 billion in PDC payments to 34 OMCs as part of the government’s effort to cushion fuel prices. At the same time, other reporting said the overall backlog of unsettled PDCs had climbed to around Rs107 billion, showing just how large the financial exposure around this system has become.
That financial scale is exactly why the FIA angle is getting attention. Reporting from multiple outlets says OGRA, in an April 16 communication, sought approval for a much larger Rs128 billion mechanism to clear PDCs, while also stating that companies found involved in hoarding should not qualify for those payments. In other words, the state is trying to keep the price-support system running while also admitting there may have been abuse inside it.
OGRA has already started tightening the rules. The Nation reported that the regulator plans to bring in an independent auditor after officials said some companies had submitted false claims, and that stricter verification would apply before future payments are cleared. That suggests the dispute is no longer only about delayed reimbursements. It is now about whether the mechanism itself was vulnerable to manipulation.
