Approved on Wednesday by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, the increase in gas prices to 35.13 percent met another requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The ECC of the Cabinet met under the direction of Federal Minister of Finance Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, according to the Finance Division.
A day before the IMF deadline, there was a lengthy discussion about the Petroleum Division’s summary of “Natural Gas Sale Pricing FY 2023-24 (Effective – 1st February 2024).”
According to sources, a pricing hike of 35.13 percent on average has been approved for the gas consumers in Punjab, KP, and Islamabad. Conversely, a pricing hike of 8.57 percent on average has also been approved for gas consumers in Sindh and Balochistan.
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Sui Northern’s new rate of Rs. 1673.82 per MMBTU (or an increase of Rs. 435.14 per MMBTU) has been accepted by the ECC, according to sources. Conversely, the chair authorized an increase in the rate of Rs. 115.72 per MMBTU (or Rs. 1466.40 per MMBTU) for Sui Southern based on the Petroleum Division’s suggestion.
The report says the Ministry of Petroleum has suggested raising the current pricing slabs for domestic protected consumers by between Rs. 80 and Rs. 100 per MMBTU. According to the sources, a progressive hike in pricing slabs ranging from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300/MMBtu has been recommended for vulnerable consumers.
Said to sources, the petroleum ministry has suggested raising the price of gas for Special Commercial and Bulk Domestic usage (Roti Tandoor).
It is suggested that the bulk usage tariff be raised to Rs. 2,900/MMBtu from Rs. 2,000/MMBtu. There will be a fixed rate for the Special commercial (Roti Tandoor) category of Rs. 700/MMBtu. Since 2015, the special commercial category tariff has remained unchanged.
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According to sources of information, the petroleum division also suggested raising the price of feed and fuel gas to Rs. 760 and Rs. 1,750 per MMBtu for the Engro Fertilizer and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim plants, respectively. The updated gas pricing for Engro Fertilizer will go into effect on March 1, 2024.
Additionally, the SNGPL network is currently providing RLNG to two other facilities, Agritech and Fatima Fert.
Additionally, PD has suggested changing the CNG sector’s prices from Rs. 3600/MMBtu to Rs. 3,750/MMBtu, which is similar to the price of RLNG, the fuel used by the bulk of the nation’s CNG producers.
Following deliberation, the ECC determined that the revised tariff or sale price should align with the revenue needs of the Sui businesses.
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