OGRA has no role in CNG price determination

Market forces are setting retail prices, say industry players

ISLAMABAD: The retail price of compressed natural gas (CNG) has already been deregulated in Punjab and it is being determined by market dynamics and sold in litres instead of kilogrammes, say market players.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Ordinance of 2009 allowed market forces to set the CNG price, but the law has expired and could not be enforced any more.



The Ministry of Law has also stopped Ogra from fixing the CNG retail price and as a result Ogra has not been regulating the market for the last four years.



Despite that, the All Pakistan CNG Association says it has been approaching the regulator frequently for the review of retail prices because of a substantial upward revision in the value of inputs that make the basis for the CNG retail price.

“The indifference on the part of Ogra over the last four years has caused a heavy financial loss to the CNG industry,” the association said.



After coming to know that Ogra had no legal powers to set the retail price and the repeated ignorance of appeals of CNG station operators, the market was compelled to determine the competitive price, it said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2016.

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