ABDUL RASHEED AZAD
ISLAMABAD: Price of CNG in Sindh would be increased by Rs 6 per litre subsequent to the decision of the CNG outlet owners to sell in litres instead of kilograms, informed sources told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
According to Petroleum Ministry sources, the Sindh Chapter of CNG Association has decided to fix the commodity price at Rs 48.20 per litre against Rs 67.50 per kg after adopting new formula from August 6.
Sources said that as per new formula just price of the commodity should be Rs 42 per litre against Rs 48.20 per litre being fixed by the Sindh CNG Association, adding that the Association wanted to fleece the consumers by Rs 6.2 per litre.
According to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) officials, the owners of CNG outlets as per law can’t fix their own prices as they are getting indigenous gas, and Economic Co-Ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet is the forum to change the formula and local gas prices for all the sectors.
Sources said a delegation of CNG Association Sindh Chapter led by Abdul Sami Khan and Malik Khuda Bux met with the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources on August 3, 2016 to get the support of the Minister and requested him to forward their case to high economic decision-making body, the ECC.
The delegation informed the minister that they were going to change CNG prices in Sindh province from August 6 prior to ECC decision. The technical and policy wings of the Petroleum Ministry informed the meeting that without the approval of ECC the change in mechanism and prices will be considered illegal and therefore the Sindh CNG Association must wait for the decision of ECC, where the ministry will plead their case.
Sui-Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) was supplying indigenous gas to all the CNG stations in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and operators were bound to sell the commodity as per Ogra fixed tariff, official said.
They added that in Punjab CNG stations were operating on imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which was a deregulated product and prices are determined on demand/supply basis.
