LPG Chamber of Pakistan has warned of a severe LPG shortage during the holy month of Ramadan following a refusal of the LPG terminal company, a subsidiary of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) dealing with LPG importers to allow handling of two LPG ships.
The government of Pakistan is a major shareholder in SSGCL and this act by the state-owned terminal company has not only led to multi-million rupees loss to the importers but also to the national exchequer due to the revenue loss.
Irfan Khokhar, regional chairman LPG standing committee of FPCCI while addressing a press conference held here at a hotel said that the state-owned LPG terminal company had refused to entertain two ships of LPG imports carrying 11900 metric tonnes within a week, resulting in an accumulative loss of Rs 40 million to the national exchequer. He said that LPG terminal charged $32 per metric tonne, thereof causing a multi-million rupees loss to the national exchequer.
In the routine, the LPG demand is over 3000 to 3500 metric tonnes per month that would now jump up to 7000 metric tonnes in the month of Ramadan to stabilise prices. The bureaucratic tactics of the state-owned terminal company would cause a shortage of products due to blocking LPG imports, leading to increased prices. He said that the government had made efforts to enhance the supply of LPG through imports but the state-owned terminal company was involved in a conspiracy against the government to create an artificial shortage of gas by blocking LPG imports.
He said that one LPG importer had already switched its business to a private terminal due to problems created by the state-owned LPG terminal company, a subsidiary of SSGCL. Another LPG importer had been blacklisted due to filing a case against the company to recover the LPG stock kept with LPG terminal on account of security deposit.
Khokhar said that the terminal company bought by SSGCL was a dead one and importers had played a key role in reviving this company through imports. He said that the Engro terminal, a private company had handled a total 1.2 million tonnes of products and out of it, it handled 226000 metrics in 2016 by operating for 14 days. Whereas, he said that a subsidiary of SSGCL had handled 214000 in a month time and both terminals had the same storage capacity. He said that last year 1.2 million metric tonnes LPG was sold in the Pakistani market and out of it, 0.53 million metric tonnes LPG was imported to meet domestic needs.
He said that he had exposed LPG theft of 2000 metric tonnes worth Rs 147 million at the terminal of SSGC’s subsidiary company. He said that he had held meetings with high-ups of the company and the SSGC managing director had chaired the meeting. SSGC chief had assured to take action but no remedy had been done so far.
At present, LPG requirements of the country stand at around 100,000-130,000 MT per month, out of which, approximately 50-60pc of LPG is being imported, while the remaining is being produced by local producers.
Unfortunately, the state-owned terminal, despite being the only public sector LPG terminal in the country, is conducting its business in a highly unjust, unfair and nontransparent manner to the detriment of the importers.
