Restricted mobility dents fuel market
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 10 2023: Coupled with the adverse impacts caused by the protracted violent conflict on the State's economy, restriction on the mobility of people has severely affected the State's fuel market.

Some retail outlets (petrol pumps) told The Sangai Express that the mobility or distance covered by vehicles owned by people in the valley area has declined drama- tically.

According to the retail outlets, a man who refills his vehicle at PCTC Khoya-thong can travel as far as only Sekmai in the North, Yaingangpokpi in the East, Pallel in the South and Khumbong or Keithelmanbi in the West.

The number of vehicles which can go beyond this jurisdiction is quite limited, they said.

Restricted mobility dents fuel market

As a result, the market share of IOCL's Malom depot has also declined considerably and there is a possibility of the IOCL facing a huge financial loss, said the ROs.

Earlier, IOCL's Malom Depot was supplying 600 Kls of diesel in a day but these days, the depot is experiencing difficulties to find market for even 300 Kls.

Likewise, the depot was supplying 300 Kls of petrol in a day but nowadays the demand for petrol has declined by almost 50 per cent to 150 Kls.

Companies and contractors who used to purchase fuels in bulk for running machinery engaged in executing several projects have either stopped or reduced fuel purchase, according to the ROs.

Common vehicles which are regularly refilling their tanks at oil pumps these days are diesel autos and private light vehicles.

Notably, a diesel auto can drive around for the whole day with diesel worth Rs 300 .

PCTC's average monthly sale has declined from 300 Kls of petrol and 400 Kls of diesel to 130 Kls and 120 Kls respectively.

Average daily sale of fuels has declined by almost 60 per cent at all retail outlets of the valley.

As a result, the financial turn-over has been severely affected.

Whereas the ROs have been struggling hard to keep the capital intact and meet the daily expenditures, they are reportedly facing a large number of monetary demands, thereby pushing them into a quandary.

The ROs said that they cannot close their oil pumps even if they are mulling over it as they must repay bank loans.

As the IOCL's share in the State's fuel market has declined considerably, its Malom depot may fail to serve its intended purpose and the Divisional Retail Sales Office located at BT Road may become dysfunctional.

Such a scenario would be a great loss for the whole State, said the ROs.

The much smaller Chingmeirong oil depot could not supply fuel to ROs when there was blockade on highways for a few days.

In order to overcome this chronic problem, O Ibobi's Government allotted 35.65 acres of land to IOCL at Malom to construct a much larger rail-fed oil depot.

The capacity of Chingmeirong oil depot was 840 Kls of petrol, 3441 Kls of diesel and 2528 Kls of SK Oil.

On the other hand, Malom depot has storage capacity of 5124 Kls of petrol, 11796 Kls of diesel and 5055 Kls of SK Oil.