The consumers are set to pay the price of expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) deals as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Monday raised prices of LNG by up to 5.59%.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has recently called for initiating inquiry against the expensive LNG deals. The regulator has allowed increase in tariff for the consumers of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) for the month of August.
Ogra increased the provisional price of RLNG for consumers of both gas companies and jacked up the rates for the consumers of SNGPL by $0.692 per mmbtu or 5.36% while for the consumers of SSGC it has been increased by $0.707 per mmbtu or 5.59%, according to a notification.
After the increase, the price of RLNG went up from $12.9160 per mmbtu in July to $13.6080 in August for the consumers of the SNGPL. The price of RLNG for the consumers of SSGCL was also increased from $12.6386 in July to $13.3454 per mmbtu in August.
The government will import 12 cargos of LNG in August, six through Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and six through spot purchase by Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL).
It is worth mentioning that for July also the regulator had increased the price of RLNG for the consumers of both the gas companies. It jacked up the rates for SNGPL consumers by $2.5834 per mmbtu or 25% while consumers of SSGC witnessed a hike of $2.5899 per mmbtu or 25.76%.