The All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) on Sunday said that the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) was still 30 percent cheaper than petrol despite the recent cut in prices of imported petrol. The prices of patrol and CNG will match when the fossil fuel will be available at Rs 49 per litre.
Petrol is sold in litres while CNG is sold in kilograms, therefore, the prices cannot be compared, said APCNGA central leader Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha.
In a statement issued on Sunday, he said a kilogram of CNG was not equal to a litre of petrol but almost 1.5 litres of petrol. Both fuels should be sold in litres to make things easier for all the stakeholders. He said international and national oil prices were declining, therefore, the price of natural gas for CNG sector should also be reduced and CNG outlets in Punjab should be reopened to provide relief to masses and spur growth. He said they had an implementable formula for the reduction of CNG prices.
Paracha said the average price of CNG in country was 73.78 rupees per kg which was almost 30 percent less than petrol.
He said a litre of petrol could not be compared with a kilogram of CNG and that the recent reduction in prices of fossil fuel had reduced but not faded the difference. The leader of the CNG sector said that the court had declared GIDC illegal but the CNG sector was paying Rs 300 per mmbtu as GIDC which must be resolved, he said, adding the issues of operational cost of CNG owners should be hammered out immediately. Ghiyas Paracha said that CNG was the favourite fuel for motorists and Rs 450 billion had been invested in this sector which was providing jobs to millions of people.
Oil price collapse hitting int’l LNG market: PEW
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) said on Sunday that oil price reduction to unprecedented 60 percent and concerns regarding future prices had started hurting international LNG market. The LNG prices were hovering around 20 dollars per mmbtu in 2014 but now it was at $7.45, the prices had thus reduced by 50 percent in the last four months, it said.
The fall in the LNG prices had added to the problems of investors resulting in stall or delayed projects while narrowing price gap had pushed the USA out of the thriving Asian market, said PEW president Dr Murtaza Mughal.
Several high-cost gas projects launched by oil and gas giants had been hindered or being altered due to weakening prices, he added. He said the international supply of LNG had been projected to be boosted by 60 million tonnes but demand will be modest due to slowdown in some important economies and resumption of nuclear reactors operations in Japan and South Korea after 2011 incident.
Dr Murtaza Mughal said that demand in China would be better as the country wanted to divert power plants from coal and furnace oil to clean LNG. Lauding the Pakistan’s LNG policy, he said despite petrol crisis, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi remained a better choice in the light of his past record. He was cautious now and pushing pipeline project which was the cheapest source of energy transmission in the world, Mughal added.
