Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar on Sunday clarified some ‘misconceptions’ about availability and consumption of Furnace Oil (FO), saying it was ‘well stocked’ to meet winter energy needs of the country. “In summers Pakistan faced a moderate shortage of furnace oil as the FO (based) power plants ran more than last year (as per merit order) due to low water levels in dams. FO consumption was 116% higher,” he said in a series of tweets. And now, Hammad Azhar said, the FO plants were running because of decreasing water flows from dams (due to canals’ closure), adding in a couple of days these would be consuming around 13,000 tonnes per day of FO. “Local refineries produce is only half that volume and IPPs stocks levels are still below the required levels.” The minister said “therefore the country is well stocked on FO in case of further LNG defaults. The surplus at some refineries is going to IPPs as FO consumption is already above 6000 tonnes/day.” He said a new refinery policy was being finalized “to shift refineries away from production of FO.”