OGRA says it provided Rs107m relief to consumers

Grants nine licences in one year for setting up new OMCs

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has said that it provided relief of around Rs107 million to consumers by addressing their complaints against two state-owned companies - Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) in the last fiscal year.

The authority received 7,082 complaints, of which it decided on 5,909 cases and granted gas connections to 635 complainants besides providing Rs106.93 million relief to consumers by addressing their grievances, according to Ogra’s Annual Performance Report 2018-19.

Ogra deals with complaints against licence holders under the Complaint Resolution Procedure Regulations 2002 without any fee, which can be sent through email, online, fax and normal post.

During the period under review, the regulatory body granted nine licences for establishing new oil marketing companies (OMCs), which would bring investment of around Rs4.5 billion for the construction of oil storage infrastructure over the next three years.

Besides, the permission was granted to six companies to initiate marketing of petroleum products after fulfilling their obligation of constructing oil storage infrastructure.

“New entrants into the marketing arena will increase competition, which will ultimately benefit the consumers,” the authority, established in 2002 with the objective to “foster competition and increase private investment in the midstream and downstream petroleum industry,” stated in the report.

Similarly, it granted permissions to the OMCs and other companies for operating their newly constructed oil storages and terminals at different locations including Sahiwal, Habibabad, Mehmoodkot, Machike, Daulatpur, Port Qasim, Shikarpur, Kotlajam and Pattoki.

“The addition of new oil storages will strengthen the oil supply infrastructure and the backup storage system,” the report added.

Ogra also issued a licence for the construction of a new oil refinery with refining capacity of 200,000 barrels per day. The facility will help enhance the country’s refining capacity with a corresponding decrease in import demand for refined oil products in future.

For liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the authority issued around 96 licences for operation, marketing, storage and filling plants, construction of LPG auto refuelling stations and storage, construction of LPG air-mix plants and distribution of air-mix LPG through storage and handling terminals, and setting up an LPG production and storage facility besides authorising two manufacturers to manufacture LPG equipment.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2019.

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