ISLAMABAD: Saudi oil marketing company Wafi Energy has donated 5,000 liters of petrol to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to support ongoing relief operations, its chief executive said on Thursday, as monsoon floods continue to devastate large parts of the country.
The contribution, made at a ceremony hosted at the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad, comes as part of wider Saudi efforts to assist Pakistan. Riyadh’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has already provided food, shelter and other items for more than 200,000 victims across the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Since late June, heavy monsoon rains and flash floods have killed more than 929 people and affected over 4 million nationwide, according to NDMA figures.
“Today we are contributing 5,000 liters of petrol to NDMA, before that we have contributed two separate tranches of fuel,” Zubair Shaikh, CEO of Wafi Energy Pakistan, told Arab News after the ceremony. “We plan to do relief item support for the affected communities.”
Wafi Energy, which acquired an 87.78% stake in Shell Pakistan Limited last year, operates more than 600 fueling stations and nationwide oil terminals. The company, now rebranded from Shell Pakistan, markets petroleum products, CNG and lubricants across the country.
Fuel supplies are critical during disaster response, enabling the NDMA to run rescue boats, transport relief goods to cut-off communities, power generators at relief camps and keep emergency vehicles operating in flood-hit areas.
Shaikh said Wafi Energy was committed to sustaining its contribution beyond fuel deliveries also.
“This is part of our values. So, this is a small contribution as part of NDMA, which we are doing as part of fuel contribution,” he said.
“We will keep on supporting the community in the rain-affected area and make sure we give them the livelihood in the next few months so that this contribution doesn’t end here.”
Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki welcomed the Wafi initiative and urged other firms to follow suit.
“I think this initiative is very important for all the companies which are investing here in Pakistan,” he told Arab News, adding that many parts of Pakistan remained badly affected and people were in urgent need of food, shelter and other items.
The envoy also underlined Saudi Arabia’s government-level support through KSrelief, pledging that the Kingdom would continue to stand by Pakistan.
“The kingdom is here to stand with Pakistan, to support Pakistan in the critical situations.”
