Establishing a CNG station: OGRA has not issued a single licence since 2008

Ban imposed to tackle widening of demand and supply gap.

ISLAMABAD:

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has not issued a single licence for opening a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in the country, except in Balochistan, since 2008, according to Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar.

During question hour of the parliament on Monday, he said there was a complete ban on issuing new licences for setting up of CNG stations due to the increasing gap between demand and supply of the fuel.

However, this ban has not been imposed in Balochistan because of small number of stations in the province. Qamar said no timeframe had been defined for lifting the ban, but the government may consider the matter subject to improvement in gas supply.

Qamar clarified that one or two new CNG stations had been set up along the Super Highway as these were pending cases. “Now, we are also planning to stop entertaining pending cases,” he asserted.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th,  2011.