KOHAT, Oct 29: Taking an undue advantage of the government’s deregulatory policy on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and the closure of all the gas producing plants at the same time for maintenance and overhauling, the local and foreign companies are marketing gas to the dealers at exorbitant rates.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, formed to ensure the availability of LPG in the market at agreed rates and force the local and foreign companies to import 30 per cent gas to make up for the shortage in the country, has also failed to play its role.

Malik Sajjad Ahmed, distributor for Lub Gas in the NWFP and northern areas, told Dawn that the ministry of petroleum was being blackmailed by the LPG producing companies due to the deregularization of prices according to the SRO number LPG10(2)2000-dereg dated 15-09-2000.

The SRO stated that the companies were free to fix their own rates without any compulsion to create a competitive market in the country for the benefit of the public. However, the ministry would monitor the affairs of the companies closely and if any negative impact was found the decision would be reconsidered by the government.

The decision on LPG price deregulation has badly hit those areas where the Sui gas is not available and the consumers are facing problems. The gas, which was being sold for Rs26 per kg in the local market, is now available for Rs45 per kg, which is beyond the reach of the common people.

It is worth mentioning that the capacity of Pak Arab Refinery is 450 tons per day, Dhodak Oilfields 200 tons per day, whereas the remaining 200 tons is produced by other small companies. Out of this production, only 72,250 cylinders of 11kg each are marketed every day under normal conditions, which is much less than the demand in the country.

The refusal of the companies under the circumstances to import gas has resulted in the acute shortage and black marketing of the LPG, which continues unnoticed.

An official in the directorate of oil and gas told Dawn that the shortage of the gas would be overcome by the first week of November if the overhauling of the plants was completed in time. He said that earlier the Pak Arab Refinery authorities had assured them that they would keep their one plant operational so that no shortage of LPG was created in the market but later they shutdown it, saying that it had developed a serious technical fault.

Meanwhile, the OGDC has suspended gas supply to Lub gas, which is the biggest supplier in the NWFP, after recovering its dues amounting to Rs190 million which were outstanding against the company. The OGDC had asked Lub gas that unless it had made advance payments for the consignment in future, its supplies would be stopped.