Which Petrol Pumps Stay Open During a Strike

Petrol pumps are due to shut from 6am on Saturday. The question everybody actually wants answered is simpler than the dispute: will anywhere be selling fuel?

Nobody can give you a list. But the structure of the trade tells you where to expect the difference, and there is one thing about tomorrow that has been widely misread.

Not every pump belongs to a dealer

This is the whole point. A dealers' association calls its members out. A company operated site has no dealer to call out. The people behind the counter are employees of the oil company, and an association the company does not belong to cannot instruct them.

In July, when a shutdown was called, company operated stations were expected to keep working while privately run sites closed in part. We are passing that on as what was reported at the time, not as a promise about tomorrow.

We have not verified any company's operating decision for Saturday, and no oil marketing company has told us what it intends to do.

The thing almost everyone has got wrong

Coverage of tomorrow's strike, including our own earlier writing, has leaned on what happened in July as the guide to what happens next. That comparison needs a correction, and we would rather make it than leave it.

They are not the same organisation.

July's collapse was an internal split in that second body. One side, led by its information secretary, accepted a government offer of a fourteen day trial of daily pricing. The other side, led by its chairman and vice chairman, rejected it in a recorded audio message and told members to stay shut.

That was a different organisation, with different members, taking a different decision under different leadership.

So the honest reading is uncomfortable for anyone hoping for a repeat. July is not a direct precedent for tomorrow. A last minute reversal remains possible, and the association's chairman has said the opposite, that they remain firm on striking on Saturday morning.

Why we will not tell you how to spot a company site

The obvious follow up is how to recognise one from the road. We are not going to guess at that.

Both models carry the same company branding. There is no reliable badge on a forecourt that tells you who holds the operating agreement, and we could not establish a test we trust.

If we invented one, the cost would land on you. You would drive past a working pump towards one you had been told would be open, during a shortage, possibly at night. That is a worse outcome than admitting we do not know.

How to plan tomorrow morning

1. Fill up tonight, during normal hours. An ordinary top up at an ordinary time is the sensible move and does not contribute to a rush.
2. Do not drive around looking for an open pump. Searching burns the fuel you are trying to save, and it is how a partial stoppage turns into a queue.
3. Phone ahead if you can. One call beats joining a line on the chance it is moving.
4. Keep enough for one unplanned journey. Somebody needing a hospital, or collecting.
5. Expect motorway and larger sites to hold up better, without treating that as a guarantee.

And the thing not to do, which we said in the main strike article and will repeat: do not store petrol at home in cans. An unrated container in a house is a fire risk that outweighs any saving.

What would actually change the position

Three things, in rough order of likelihood.

A withdrawal announced late. This has happened before in this dispute and would probably come in the evening or overnight.

A partial strike. Some members comply, others do not, and availability becomes a local matter rather than a national one. This is what a split produces.

Cabinet movement on the margin. The Rs 1.34 increase sits with the Economic Coordination Committee awaiting federal cabinet approval, and dealers have described it as pending two years. Why that number is the whole argument is set out in our margin explainer.

For what fuel actually costs today, and where the official rate is published, see the daily petrol price page. There is also a freight stoppage running in parallel, covered in the transport strike at day seven.

Questions readers are asking

Will any petrol pumps be open on 15 August?

Possibly. Company operated sites are not party to a dealers' strike, and in July such sites were expected to keep working. Nothing has been confirmed for Saturday.

What is a company operated pump?

One run directly by the oil marketing company and staffed by its employees, rather than by a private dealer.

How do I tell which kind a pump is?

You usually cannot from outside. Both carry the same branding, and we are not going to invent a test.

Did the July strike not collapse?

It did, but it was called by a different association, the All Pakistan Petroleum Pump Owners Association, which split internally. Tomorrow's is called by the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association.

Does that make tomorrow more likely to go ahead?

It means July is not a direct precedent. The PPDA chairman has said the association remains firm on striking.

Should I fill up tonight?

Yes, during normal hours if you need fuel. Avoid late night queues, and do not fill cans to store at home.

What would call it off?

A late withdrawal, which has happened before in this dispute, or movement on the margin increase that is awaiting cabinet approval.