OGRA revises fines for violators

Says penalty on major violations ranges from Rs10m to Rs500m

ISLAMABAD:

The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) has directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) to implement end-to-end automation and digitisation of reporting to record all transactions in future and have accurate data collection.

The directive came in a CCOE meeting held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.

On the occasion, Ogra presented the revision in rules regarding punitive measures and fines.

The meeting was informed that fines would be imposed for non-compliance with licence conditions and violation of Ogra rules by the licensees.

Fines have been revised for licensees across the petroleum value chain and the penalty on major violations would be in the range of Rs10 million to Rs500 million, according to a statement.

The committee directed Ogra to consider additional measures to curb illegal gains and fraudulent activities of the licensees.

The authority was also directed to send a summary to the Cabinet Division within two weeks to make the changes as soon as possible.

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Moreover, Ogra presented a report on the establishment of a monitoring system for the sale of petroleum products.

The Petroleum Division and Ogra would jointly develop a strategy for the automation of data collection and digitisation of transactions across the value chain, the statement added.

The Petroleum Division presented the projected natural gas supply and demand position in the current winter season.

During the meeting, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) shared the month-wise scenario of supply and demand in the north of the country. The committee directed the Petroleum Division to present a detailed impact analysis of different policy options for developing the Gas Load Management Plan for the winter of 2021-22 in the next meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2021.

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