‘Govt to allocate gas quota for CNG stations’

Supply to captive power plants to stop in six months: petroleum minister.

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain said on Friday that the government would allocate a gas quota for CNG stations in a bid to end outages.

While talking to journalists during a visit to Attock Refinery Limited, Hussain said “CNG stations will have a quota and it will depend on them whether they consume it in a day or a week”.

He said that the industrial sector was consuming 250 million cubic feet gas per day (mmcfd) through captive power plants. “There is huge wastage of gas in captive power plants. The government will stop supplying gas to this sector in six months,” he added.

He also maintained that provinces would need to provide subsidy from their own resources to reduce oil prices.

“A proposal will be tabled in the energy conference to be held on April 9 that provinces should cut its share of General Sales Tax (GST) to reduce oil prices,” he said adding that work was underway for de-regulation of all petroleum products in light of the Supreme Court order.

“The government will determine oil prices on daily basis in the future,” he added.

While addressing the ceremony of the flower show held at ARL, Petroleum Minister said that the Attock Group – the only vertically integrated corporation in the energy sector – was the pioneer
and pacesetter of the petroleum industry in this region and contributions significantly to the national economy.

The minister, assured the Attock Group of full support in their upgradation, expansion and other projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2012.