Islamabad November 09, 2021: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that keeping in view the spike in oil and gas prices at international market and illegal use of the gas in some sectors, he said the Federal Cabinet had increased gas prices for captive power plants to $9 per MBTU (Million British Thermal Unit) from $6.5 per MBTU. Likewise, the RLNG rate for different units of the exports sector units will remain unchanged ($6.5 per MBTU).
The prices would come into effect on November 15, 2021 and would remain intact till March 31, 2022, he added. He said some sectors were misusing the subsidy on gas to produce electricity which was already excessive in the country. The initiative was taken to remove that specific anomaly. There has been a worldwide crisis of gas, he said while citing examples of the United Kingdom where the commodity prices had witnessed marked increase.
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To avoid misuse of the scheme, the government had decided to take the subsidy back from the industrial sector till March 31, 2022 as the gas crisis was likely to ease after March. He clarified that this had nothing to do with domestic consumers. Only 27 per cent domestic consumers used local gas while 77 percent of them relied on the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Those 27 per cent were getting a major subsidy at the expense of the 77 per cent. The 77 per cent of the population were paying for the gas which was being used in the cities at the cheapest rate in the world, he added. Whenever, we talk about the 77 per cent population, the media started creating hype over increase in the gas prices.
The oil and gas [prices] are connected with the international market and the country will not uplift if we continue to give subsidies on different commodities to a certain portion of the population, he added. He said sensational reporting had somewhat become a norm which eventually hurt the market sentiment. This issue does not damage us but also the country we will resolve this soon.
He said the Federal Cabinet has accorded approval to appointment of Joint Secretary Energy Division Ahmed Taimoor Nasir as Managing Director National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) on temporary basis. He said earlier, the government appointed a permanent head of the NTDC who came from Canada and resigned from his post in three months. Now, Ahmed Taimoor has been appointed on a temporary basis so that the process for appointment of permanent head of the NTDC could be completed, he added.
Fawad said the Federal Cabinet had given approval to include fans in the mandatory list on recommendations of Pakistan Quality Control Authority. The initiative would not only improve standards of local fans, but also make them energy efficient which would eventually enable its export to foreign countries.
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