SC says no to weekly revision of CNG prices

The court orders OGRA to announce revised prices by November 1.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court, in its interim order on the CNG and petrol price assessment case, declared the current CNG pricing setup as against the law and ordered Ogra to announce revised prices by November 1, Express News reported on Thursday.

The order stated that since CNG is produced locally and has no connection to the international market, operating costs and present profit on CNG prices is against the law.

The court said that CNG prices will not be revised on a weekly basis and said there will be no parity of CNG prices with those of petrol.

The report presented by Ogra had stated that owners were making Rs11 per kg profit and Rs20 per kg operating cost on CNG.

Earlier, it was claimed that the increase in CNG prices under a weekly mechanism is in violation of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Ordinance, 2002, it has been claimed.

Industry sources said that CNG prices cannot be changed without adopting the procedure laid down in the ordinance which binds Ogra from fixing prices after a public hearing with the participation of stakeholders to meet revenue requirements sought by gas utilities.