ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Petroleum on Tuesday opposed a proposal, being considered by the quarters concerned, to introduce the ‘Weighted Average Cost’ method for determining the gas price under slab-mechanism.
The committee, chaired by Mohsin Aziz, was of the view that the proposed formula shouldn’t be applicable on the provinces producing gas as it would hurt their interests and increase concerns.
The Senate body was informed that currently, there were around four different tariffs of gas in the country that needed to be streamlined for better efficiency of the sector.
The committee members expressed annoyance over delay in setting up Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) air-mix plants in Balochistan and not calculating consumer tariff/subsidies in their feasibility reports.
The parliamentarians were informed that the gas price under the air-mix plants would be higher than the piped gas, and now the matter was being taken up with the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for deliberation.
Petroleum Division Secretary Mian Asad Hayauddin said there should be a special energy package for Balochistan keeping in view its different dynamics. Accordingly, he added, a proposal would be forwarded to the ECC.
Senators Nauman Wazir Khattak, Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, Shammim Afridi, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Mir Muhammad Yousaf Badini, Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, Sherry Rehman and Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar attended the meeting.
