The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Saturday approved an increase in gas prices for domestic, industrial and CNG consumers. The authority approved an increase in the price of the Sui Northern Gas (SNG) by Rs 31.12 per mmbtu and that of the Sui Southern Gas (SSG) by Rs 28.28 per mmbtu. The price of SNG has gone up by 9.87 percent, while the price of SSG has increased by 6.14 percent. The new prices are expected to be in effect from January 1, 2013, and are expected to remain as such until the month of June. OGRA has also approved the measure enabling the SNG and the SSG to respectively recover 4.5 percent and 7 percent of pilfered gas from consumers. It has sent a summary with the above-stated recommendations to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources. STRIKE: Meanwhile, commuters and motorists continued to suffer as most of the CNG stations remained closed on the sixth consecutive day across the country, as the All Pakistan CNG Association and OGRA failed to reach consensus on a pricing formula. In most cities of the four provinces, CNG stations remained closed and long queues of vehicles were observed outside the few CNG stations which were providing gas. The commuters had to wait for hours at bus stops as public and private transport remained very thin.
It should be mentioned that OGRA has prepared a new CNG pricing formula and submitted it to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources in order to seek policy guidelines regarding the taxation of the sector. According to the formula, the new price of CNG was recommended at Rs 72.20 and Rs 63.46 per kilogramme for Region-I (Islamabad, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Region-II (Punjab and Sindh) respectively. However, the APCNGA rejected the formula, saying that the matter was sub judice therefore the prices should not be fixed. Meanwhile, CNG station owners of Multan and Muzafargarh ended the strike and reopened their stations.
