RLNG charges levied by SNGPL: APTMA to hire audit firm for verification

ISLAMABAD: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has decided to hire an audit firm itself to conduct a detailed audit and verification of the RLNG actualization charges levied on its members by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).

In a letter to the Managing Director, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL, Secretary General Aptma, Shahid Sattar has referred to the recent billing by SNGPL of RLNG actualization charges to industrial gas/RLNG consumers, extending retrospectively over a period of ten years.

According to the Aptma, these charges have been levied without any accompanying explanation, calculation details, or disclosure of the methodology applied.

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“As consumers, the industry has an unequivocal right to full transparency regarding the basis and justification of charges applied to it. It is neither reasonable nor acceptable for retrospective claims of this scale, spanning over a decade, to be imposed without due clarity and disclosure,” Sattar added.

The Aptma has further stated that in exercise of this right on behalf of our member mills, the Association will be engaging a reputed independent audit firm to conduct a detailed audit and verification of the RLNG actualization charges levied on its members by SNGPL.

The association is of the view that this exercise is essential to provide transparency in the methodology and the actual accounts used to arrive at these anti-business-like charges up to ten years old, especially considering that no pending receivables against these charges are reported in the various financial statements and accounts submitted by SNGPL to the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

“This has created a strong impression in the industry that the entire exercise is an arbitrary and undue exaction from consumers,” the association said, requesting Managing Director SNGPL to communicate it the date on which this audit can be initiated and to nominate a senior officer from SNGPL to serve as the focal point for coordinating with the appointed audit firm and facilitating access to the requisite data and records.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025