LPGDA withdraws strike call after meeting with Nadeem Babar

The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Distributors Association (LPGDA) on Friday called off the April 11 strike announced by it after holding a meeting with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar.

The meeting was attended by the secretary petroleum, officers of oil and gas regulatory authority and representatives of distributors.

Talking to Business Recorder LPGDA Chairman Irfan Khokhar said that decision to call off the strike was taken after the assurances from the government that it will look into the issue of devising separate pricing mechanism for LPG consumer in Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK and for northern areas.

He said the issue of separate profit margins for LPG marketing companies and distributors in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir was also discussed in the meeting. The matter of announcing LPG prices by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority after every 15 days was also discussed in the meeting. He further said that it was also agreed that the government will strictly ensure the ban on filling of gas in substandard cylinders.

Pakistan LPG Marketers Association (PLPGMA) Chairman Farooq Iftikhar while talking to this scribe said that neither Ogra nor petroleum ministry can announce separate profit for the distributors because distributors were designated by the companies and not by the Ogra. He said it was possible only when the distributors were designated by the OGRA.

Iftikar said that prices were determined on demand and supply mechanism, adding that marketing companies bought gas from the producers in bulk. He also said that they fully support the demand for use of substandard cylinders.

Meanwhile, according to the spokesman of the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) Iqbal Z. Ahmed, chairman of JJVL visited the plant, located in Deh Shah Bokhari, to ensure uninterrupted LPG supply chain countrywide by maintaining optimal production at the plant. Iqbal visited the plant following a steep reduction of LPG availability in the country owing to the shutdown of some oil refineries, and reduction of production by OGDCL.

The spokesman said that JJVL is making all out efforts to increase its production to meet the LPG requirements of over 500,000 homes which are not connected to the national gas grid.

The current production at JJVL of over 300 MT per day is expected to increase to over 400 MT per day shortly thus saving Pakistan millions of dollars in foreign exchange and providing energy to the far-flung areas of the country and the underprivileged. JJVL represents a replacement value of USD 200 million and can process 325 mmscfd of gas per day.