RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has increased the prices of domestic and commercial LPG cylinders by Rs 7 per kg with immediate effect.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has notified new prices of the LPG. The impact of increase will be Rs 86 for domestic cylinder, Rs 329 per commercial cylinder and Rs 7,249 per metric ton. The OGRA has issued notification in this respect.

The LPG consumers will have to pay Rs 133 extra on purchase of a LPG cylinder. Now a domestic LPG cylinder is available at Rs 1,565 and a commercial cylinder is available at Rs 6,021.

According to details, the government has linked domestic LPG production with international market. During the last four years, the domestic production of the LPG increased by 54 percent and monthly production of LPG reached 34,000 metric tons.

The LPG Distribution Association claimed that the LPG production plant was shut down which affected the supply of LPG in market. The country is facing a shortage of around 7,000 to 8,000 metric tons of LPG due to shutdown of the LPG plants.

The association suggested that the government should allocate quota from locally-produced LPG and fix the prices as per LPG 2016 policy. It should be mixed with the imported LPG to keep the prices under control. “This mixing will help reduce the price of the LPG by 30 percent and domestic cylinder will be available at Rs 1,000,” the association stated.

The federal government has failed to cap per LPG cylinder price at Rs 895. During the last six months, domestic cylinder price increased by Rs 76 whereas an increase of Rs 19,703 was witnessed in price of one metric ton LPG.