ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) was informed that the fines have been revised for licensees across petroleum value chain and the maximum penalty against major violations is starting from Rs10 million to 500 million.

A meeting of the CCoE was held under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, here on Thursday. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) presented the status of revision in the rules regarding punitive measures and fines.

The meeting was informed that fines will be imposed for non-compliance of the license conditions and violation of the OGRA rules by the licensees. The fines have been revised for licensees across petroleum value chain.

The maximum penalty against major violations is starting from 10 million to 500 million rupees. The CCoE directed to consider additional measures for illegal gains and fraudulent activities of the licensees. The OGRA was directed to send the summary to the Cabinet Division within two weeks to implement the changes, as soon as possible.

The OGRA also presented the report on the establishment of a monitoring system for the sale of petroleum products.

The CCoE directed the OGRA to implement an end-to-end automation and digitisation of reporting to account for all transactions in future and have accurate data collection.

The Petroleum Division and the OGRA will jointly develop a strategy for automation of data collection and digitisation of transactions across the value chain. The Petroleum Division presented the projected natural gas supply and demand position in the country for the coming winter.

During the meeting, the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) also shared month-wise scenario of supply and demand in the north of the country. The CCoE directed the Petroleum Division to present a detailed impact analysis of different policy options for developing the Gas Load Management Plan for the winter of 2021-22 in the next meeting.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Energy, Minister for Maritime Affairs, Minister for Science and Technology, Advisor to the PM on Commerce and Industries, chairman OGRA, chairman NEPRA, representatives of regulatory authorities, and senior officials of ministries/divisions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021