LAHORE: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) is looking to burden gas consumers with payments amounting to Rs18 billion to cover the cost of gas theft in the last five years.
In line with a study conducted by a consultant hired by OGRA, the petroleum division has asked the regulator to increase the unaccounted-for-gas (UFG) benchmark to 7.6 per cent for financial years 2012-13 to 2016-17, reported a private news outlet.
With this increase, the Petroleum Division aims to make adjustments in the accounts of previous years and set aside the provisional UFG level. According to the report, “The 7.6 per cent level would include 5 per cent fixed UFG benchmark whereas 2.6 per cent depends on local conditions in order to enable gas companies to continue their operations and stave off financial collapse.”
The August 2017 study recommended that by evaluating the performance of Sui gas companies in relation to proposed key monitoring indicators, OGRA may issue directives to do away with the provisional final revenue requirement.
“Ogra emphasised that it would not be practicable to assess the performance of Sui gas companies based on study recommendations with retrospective effect,” stated the news report. However, the Petroleum Division has stated that this would have a negative impact on the gas companies.
