ISLAMABAD: Amid continuing gas shortage faced by residential consumers, the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) asked the owners of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations on Wednesday to open their outlets immediately.

When contacted, All Pakistan CNG Association’s Chairman (APCNGA) Ghiyas Paracha confirmed that the gas company had asked CNG station owners to resume sales with effect from Wednesday night.

He, however, said the price fixed by the company for sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was unacceptable to the CNG sector. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had determined regasified LNG price at $8.63 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) when the import price stood at $7.732 per mmBtu, he said.

The RLNG price under a formula determined by Ogra had now come down to $6.20 per mmBtu because of LNG import price of $5.35, he said, but deplored that the gas utility had conveyed RLNG sale price of $10.50 per mmBtu which was unfair and unacceptable.

He pointed out that the SNGPL did not have LNG supplies for the CNG sector because no ship was currently injecting LNG into gas network. However, the gas utility was diverting natural gas to the CNG sector and charging RLNG rates, he added.

The company, he said, wanted to raise funds from the CNG industry to arrange future LNG ships, on top of Rs1.40 billion already collected from the sector and over Rs10bn of security deposits.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016