Ogra to revise mechanism to settle OMCs’ Rs66.7bn claims

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has decided to revise the verification mechanism for Price Differential Claims (PDCs), a move expected to facilitate the settlement of the remaining Rs66.7 billion in outstanding claims owed to oil marketing companies (OMCs), according to industry sources.

 

The decision was shared during a meeting between OGRA and OMC representatives at the regulator’s headquarters on Wednesday. Discussions also covered OMC margins, the digitisation of petroleum products across the supply chain, and taxation issues affecting Pakistan’s downstream petroleum sector.

 

Sources said OGRA informed industry representatives that the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for verifying outstanding PDCs would be amended before payments are released. The revised framework proposes replacing the current sales based verification system with a purchase based mechanism, which was previously used for processing PDC claims.

 

Under the proposed approach, claims would be verified using refinery lifting and import records instead of sales data. Industry officials believe this method would simplify verification for both OGRA and external auditors while significantly reducing the time required to process claims.

 

The proposal was submitted by the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) in a letter to OGRA on July 6, 2026, ahead of the meeting. The industry body argued that purchase records, supported by refinery and import documentation, provide a more reliable and easily auditable basis for verification than sales based records.