ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar on Friday expressed his annoyance over the attitude of officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) for not submitting a summary for a downward revision in the prices of compressed natural gas (CNG), Dawn has learnt.

“Despite repeated requests, the summary has not been placed before the Economy Monitoring Committee (EMC) for a review,” the minister remarked while presiding over a meeting of the EMC.

A source privy to the meeting told Dawn that the minister was astonished at the response of representatives of the two organisations who stated that they were thinking about the procedures for submission of the summary to the relevant forum.

“It is our responsibility to forward the summary to the cabinet,” the minister asked the representatives of the petroleum ministry and Ogra.

The summary may be submitted to the committee on Monday, the source added.

Owners of CNG stations across the country are selling gas at Rs48.36 per kg while a CNG station in the federal capital is selling gas at the old rate of Rs38.80 per kg despite the recent increase in gas prices. A lone government-owned CNG station is able to sell the fuel even cheaper at Rs35 per kg.

As profiteering by the CNG station owners placed the government in an embarrassing situation, it finally gave powers to Ogra to regulate the retail price of CNG.

An official announcement said that the ministry of petroleum/Ogra briefed the EMC over the administrative process of finalisation CNG pricing formula in synchronisation with all stakeholders.

The EMC directed the ministry of petroleum and Ogra to complete their processing and formulations shortly and take an action at the earliest for the convenience of the people.

The ministry of food, agriculture and livestock briefed the EMC over stability in food grains prices, comparing them with regional countries -- India, Bangladesh, China, Afghanistan and others.

The EMC directed the Minfal to compare domestic, regional and international markets for uniform wheat and rice prices, for decision making after completing necessary homework that should take into account Rabi and Kharif season’s crop-related factors.

The EMC directed the Minfal to expeditiously complete its interaction with relevant Saudi authorities for provision of urea to meet domestic farmers’ needs.

The meeting was informed that a uniform list of urea distributors and dealers had been finalized, and provincial governments and DCOs have been updated to ensure a sufficient delivery system so that crop growers in all the four provinces are provided vital input to maximise production.

The EMC directed the Minfal and the NFC management to double the sales outlets capacity to ensure farmers’ convenience in a way that every sub-division has urea sales points.