The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Friday rejected the claims of two LPG marketing companies for increasing the consumer price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The Ogra in its response to the companies - JJVL and Parco - states that these companies have contended the LPG local price conveyed in February 2017 on flimsy grounds and has not substantiated its claims based on the plausible justification and relevant information in this regards.
"Apparently there seems no reason to suddenly jump up the LPG local produced price in February 2017, which in the peak of the preceding demand period witnessed far below.
Further, the company has argued on the basis of CP (Aramco price)/LPG Policy, 2013, which has no application keeping in view the LPG Policy, 2016 approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) which supersedes all previous policies, rules and directives in this regard.
The LPG Production and Distribution Policy 2016 approved by the CCI is primarily aimed to make available LPG product for domestic consumers at an affordable price and avoid frequent price fluctuation to ensure sustained price level. The authority may exercise its power to cancel the licenses of the producing companies if they don't follow the LPG prices determined by the regulatory body.
Ogra has once again asked 14 LPG producers to provide the record of sale price charged from the marketing companies for February and March. The provision of data will help determine the LPG prices for the marketing companies and may help decide the price of 11.8-kg cylinder.
In February, after analysing the Saudi Aramco LPG prices for the past three months, Ogra determined that the prices of LPG will be Rs 77,220 per tonne or Rs 910 for 11.8-kg cylinder. The notified prices would be applicable only to locally produced LPG, while the imported commodity would remain deregulated and would be supplied to industrial consumers and the auto sector. However, after the passage of almost a month LPG producers and marketing companies are not ready to follow the Ogra determined prices for LPG.