Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Wednesday arranged a consultative session with the gas companies to bring down Unaccounted For Gas (UFG) as per international standard. The session was moderated by the registrar Ogra in the presence of Chairperson Ogra Uzma Adil Khan, Member (Finance) Noorul Haque, and senior officials of the authority.
A large number of participants attended the session including representatives from the industry, media persons, general consumers and the SNGPL. The consultant gave a detailed presentation on the UFG study. High UFG levels of the gas companies have been a major area of concern for the reason that it is wastage of a scarce resource and is avoidable to a great extent. The Ogra has always urged the gas companies to control its UFG losses so that unnecessary burden may not be passed on to the consumers and the financial health of the gas companies should improve.
In order to determine the UFG benchmarks based on the international best practices, local environment and keeping in view ground realities, the Ogra initiated the comprehensive UFG benchmark study through an independent international reputed consultant KPMG. The draft report has already been placed on the Ogra's website.
The UFG is one of the most critical elements in the gas sector and it is, therefore, important for stakeholders to understand the term 'UFG' and the reasons contributing to it. Through a public notice all stakeholders were invited to furnish their comments/views on the draft report with a view to finalise the report. In order to make the process meaningful, stakeholders engagement sessions have also been scheduled in provincial headquarters and Islamabad. The first session was conducted in Karachi while the second session and third at Islamabad was conducted on Wednesday. The chairperson Ogra on concluding the session ensured the participants that their all valuable suggestions will be given due consideration while finalising the final draft of the study.