The price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has hiked up byRs5 per kg owing to a slowdown in gas imports after Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) set a price ceiling of Rs910/per domestic cylinder of 11.8 kg, media sources have reported.
LPG marketing companies have termed the price ceiling unrealistic fearing an inevitable crisis. The companies fear that LPG prices are bound to rise further as imports have stagnated for the past two months.
An OGRA official is reported to have said that it only regulates domestic supplies and not LPG imports. The imports, he added, were being restricted to create artificial demand leading to an increase in prices.
LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan Chairman Irfan Khokhar, on the other hand, is reported to have insisted that OGRA’s intervention in the LPG market is likely to create a demand-supply gap in the market leading to a loss of millions for the industry.
Khokhar stressed the need for the government to intervene and address the issue of setting a price for LPG to maintain price stability and making imports accessible.
He further added that the Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had already informed that in the LPG conference held in Lahore on March 14 that a policy would be drafted to make imports feasible by bridging the price gap between local and imported gas. Khokhar stressed upon the government to formulate a policy on urgent basis so that supplies could be replenished through imports.
