ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Tuesday declared the sale of CNG in litres as illegal in Sindh and directed all fuel stations in the province to sell the gas in kilograms.

In a statement, the Ogra spokesperson said in Sindh the sale of indigenous gas/CNG in litres is illegal and only imported RLNG gas can be sold in litres.

As opposed to Punjab, CNG stations in Sindh are not using imported gas so far.

The Ogra official said selling CNG in litres is permitted in Punjab because it has been termed as ‘deregulated’ in the province.

“The CNG sector in Punjab is operating at imported Regasified Liquified Natural Gas (RLNG) and its rates vary at every consignment while the the CNG in Sindh is operating at locally produced gas and its rates are regulated by Ogra,” the spokesman added.

Ogra has communicated to All Pakistan CNG Association that the maximum sale prices of CNG notified by it on August 31, 2015 at Rs75.82 per kg for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Potohar region (Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Gujar Khan) and Rs67.50 per kg for Sindh and Punjab are legally prevalent for all indigenous gas based CNG stations.

“Any CNG station charging other than the Ogra notified rates is illegal and action shall be taken against violators as per law,” the statement said.

The authority further said the notification was issued under the relevant law and in pursuance of the decisions of Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet.

CNG sector denies wrong doing: Meanwhile, the CNG sector denied any wrongdoings and claimed written permission to convert the sale to litres was granted by Petroleum Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbassi.

“We had a meeting with the minister in the presence of relevant officers of the Petroleum Ministry last week on August 3,” said Malik Khuda Bakhsh, president of the CNG Station Owners Association of Pakistan.

“The recognised formula was used to determine the price of CNG in litres and we assumed that the formalities have been completed,” he added.

The recognised formula for conversion of CNG to litres is dividing the kilogram rates by 1.4.

“CNG is being sold at Rs67.50 per kilogram in Sindh after conversion — that is dividing it by 1.4, per litre rate comes to be Rs48.20,” he added, “This has been done only to make the rates more attractive for the buyers as the per kilogram rates are very close — actually higher than that of per litre petrol.”

In response to the notification, the CNG sector is scheduled to have a meeting with Ogra officials today (Wednesday) in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2016