The National Assembly legislative body on petroleum and natural resources has directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and Ministry of Petroleum to revoke the recent hike in petroleum prices and maintain old prices.
The National Assembly standing committee met at the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) building with Engineer Tariq Khattak in the chair.
It strongly expressed annoyance over the recent increase in prices of petroleum products and said the hike would add to the miseries of common man and boost inflation in the country.
The committee said another unfortunate factor was that price fluctuation was announced by OGRA or the ministry two or three days before the decision that resulted into a shortage of products and oil mafia earned billions of rupees through hoarding.
Jamshed Dasti said Adviser to PM on Petroleum Dr Asim had no control and was playing into the hands of officers. Barjees Tahir said the ministry leaked the information of price increase and favored the oil mafia in the country. Adviser to Prime Minister Dr Asim assured the meeting that leakage of news regarding price increase would be controlled and officials would follow the code of conduct in the future.
He said the ministry followed a transparent formula about pricing of petroleum products and any one could forecast the fluctuation in prices in the coming days.
The ministry had no hidden role in this regard, Dr Asim added. OGRA Chairman Saeed Khan and Dr Asim agreed to devise a mechanism to keep the decision of prices secret until the issuance of the notification.
Dr Asim told the committee that Rs 50 billion subsidy had been given to the fertilizer sector as all plants were closed due to a shortage of gas. During the meeting SNGPL MD Arif Hameed told the committee that 1,865mmcfd of gas was available in the system while its demand was 2,600 mmcfd with a shortfall of 624 mmcfd. He said that shortfall would increase to 900 mmcfd in December this year while in Jan 2013 it would be increased to approximately 1,100 mmcfd. The body showed annoyance over the slow pace of work on development schemes by MNAs and development funds of projects were adjusted elsewhere.
The members said due to mismanagement of departments, MNAs were asked about revalidation of funds. The SNGPL MD informed the committee that Rs 22 billion of development schemes were pending with the SNGPL, while four billion of development projects were pending with the SSGCL. In this regard, standing committee constituted a sub-committee under the chair of Jamshed dasti and directed it to see into the issue and devise a mechanism for its redressal.
