2,581 tonnes of imported LPG reach Port Qasim

[LahoreEstate]

LAHORE (January 18 2009): The first cargo of the new year - imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) - has arrived in Pakistan, which will help the industry in meeting winter demand and reduce the price hike in the open market. "An LPG vessel, bearing 2,581 metric tonnes of imported product, has berthed at Port Qasim, Karachi, on Saturday.

"This product will be immediately brought into the market to ensure the availability of affordable product throughout the country," LPG Association spokesman Fasih Ahmad told Business Recorder here on Saturday. He said additional cargoes of 2,500 metric tonnes each were also expected to arrive at Port Qasim within this month.

With the import of 7,500 metric tonnes of LPG this month, he said: "The LPG producers and marketing companies will follow fair and transparent pricing regimes to pass the benefit of falling domestic and international gas prices on to the end-consumer."

He said: "The LPG retail prices had been inordinately high in Punjab, but have come down and will further come down because of this additional availability of the LPG," he said. He said: "The LPG producers and marketing companies should abide by rules of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and operate under its watch."

Ahmed said: "There are over 70 Ogra-licensed LPG marketing companies operating in Pakistan, resulting in near-perfect competition to the ultimate advantage of the consumer," adding that the financial and operational details of each Ogra-licensee are available with the regulator.

"There is no cartelisation in the sector and this can be gauged from the fact that the LPG marketing companies reduced their prices by 67 percent from September to December last year," he added. Ahmed said the LPG marketing companies were providing product to the distributors at a nation-wide average price of Rs 59 per kilogram and that the agreed gross margin for the LPG distributors was rupees five per kilogram.

Based on these figures, the maximum retail price should be closer to Rs 65 per kilogram, he said, adding: "However, some LPG distributors, especially in Punjab, have been exploiting the media to mislead consumers about fair retail prices to profiteer and black market product," he said. "We have been demanding action against LPG distributors violating the public trust," he said.

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