Ministry of Petroleum on Friday took notice of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) crisis ahead of Ramazan due to blackmailing practices of the subsidiary of Sui Southern Gas Company dealing with LPG imports.
In a letter sent to managing director Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) LPG Company, the ministry has directed to look into the issue and present a report immediately to the ministry.
Ministry of Petroleum said that it had received a letter from Pakistan LPG Chamber regarding blackmailing practices by SSGC LPG to hamper LPG imports to create shortage of product ahead of Ramazan.
Letters to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have also been written against these malpractices of SSGC’s Subsidiaries.
Irfan Khokhar requested Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to ensure the availability of this cheap substitute of other fuels in Ramadan.
After receiving complaints, Ministry of Petroleum had written a letter to the managing director SSGC LPG Company and sought a reply over LPG shortage crisis ahead of Ramazan due to blackmailing practices of the subsidiary of Sui Southern Gas Company dealing with LPG imports.
While addressing a press conference, Irfan Khokhar on Thursday had said that state owned LPG terminal company had refused to entertain two ships of LPG imports carrying 11900 metric tons within a week resulting accumulative loss of Rs 40 million to national exchequer.
He said that LPG terminal charged $32 per metric ton and so this company caused a multimillion rupees loss to national exchequer.
In routine, the LPG demand is over 3000 to 3500 metric tons per month that would jump up to 7000 metric tons in month of Ramadan to stabilize prices. The bureaucratic tactics of state owned terminal company would cause shortage of product due to blocking LPG imports that would lead to increased prices.
He said that government had made efforts to enhance supply of LPG through imports but state owned terminal company was involved in conspiracy against government to create artificial shortage of gas due to blocking LPG imports.
