Preparing to free the petroleum sector from government decisions

Islam Abad (94 news) The federal government has accelerated the consultation process to free the petroleum sector from government decisions and to make the prices of different types of gas, including LNG, uniform.

According to the details, a high-level meeting was held in the Prime Minister's Office, which was chaired by Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Important issues related to the petroleum sector were discussed in the meeting. In the meeting, various proposals related to freeing the petroleum sector from government decisions were considered, besides the issue of implementing uniform gas prices for various industrial sectors was also considered.

According to the sources, initially the government is considering that the prices of petroleum products determined from the refinery should be left to the market. Similarly, later this initiative should be carried forward with respect to the products coming out of the depot. Ex-depot prices of petroleum products include logistics costs, dealers' profits and oil marketing companies' profits, but dealers are opposed to freeing these prices from government decisions. Because otherwise they will have to face price competition in the local market.

Sources in the oil industry say that the government has been considering these proposals and issues for a long time, but no practical steps have been taken in this regard yet. Regarding the prices of gas coming out of wells, the sources said that this gas is related to oil and gas exploration companies, so it is not possible to determine the same prices because the oil companies have made different agreements with the government, according to which the prices of gas coming out from different wells are determined differently, so it is not possible to change these agreements. Piped gas and liquefied natural gas (ILNG) The government has the authority to fix uniform prices.